A curiosity from the hinterlands of Maine is found here in a folk group called VILLAGE OF SPACES. On their new release, WELCOME IN (available on LP, CD-R or Cassette from their Bandcamp page), the husband and wife duo of Dan Beckman-Moon and Amy Moon explore the domestic joys of roughly performed folk music in a range of styles that varies from the ultra-traditional to the slightly creepy and less conventional.

Like the recordings of Pearls Before Swine way way before them, or like contemporaries MV&EE for that matter, rough textures and less-processed performances help to create a space for traveled listeners to lean in a little more to enjoy the filigree of Village of Spaces idiosyncratic offerings. “River of Time” is the most ancient sounding track of the litter–its homely medieval minstrelsy harkening back to the woman-child recordings of UK legend Shirley Collins. The dour Celtic requiem of “Ancestral Oak” features droning notes and a melody as old as the song’s namesake. Other tracks sound more like conventional coffee-house fare, such as “Wheels”–a lovely gentle waltz with harmonies that take us “out in the fields/alone late at night.” The intimacy of the recordings brings us even closer in “Treading Lifting,” when we hear what sounds to be the couple’s children in the background as dark nursery rhyme folk trickles over feedback from a glowing steel guitar.

Yet another perfectly lovely underground folk album from present day New England. Almost autumn, so the tide is high.