Howl-Ošs "Disk o' Peers" compiles many standard renaissance faire numbers into a unique blend of sounds. Like a well worn tapestry, each track is a woven blend of threads contributing to an overall musical texture with melody as the warp and rhythm as the weft. These songs are  characterized by their relatively timeless nature, yet Howl-O punctuates the effects of time through their vocalization and instrumentation, borrowing their aesthetics from a long history of previous bards, scalds, and troubadours. The urgently imperative voice of Douglas often counterpoints the liquid crooning of Bella - sometimes blending, sometimes opposing - while all the instrumentation is created acoustically, ranging from mandolin and violin to guitar and djembe.

The range of musical selections vary widely. The "Skye Boat Song" prominently features the voice of Bella as she pours herself into the magnificent ballad, while Douglys takes the lead, liberally mixing both tonal modes and rhythms, in the often eerie "Black Velvet Band." A couple of tracks also feature a violin that is reminiscent of the Devil's part in the
classic Charlie Daniel's Band number. Near the end, we are treated to the blended sounds of the old standard "The Mermaid" with a harmony on the chorus that seems inspired by a minor key. Every song is recognizable, yet every song also shares a new twist of inspiration.

In retrospect, "The Work of the Weavers" does suffer from the weakness of the vocals being difficult to understand at first but is otherwise a fine melody, and there are a few places on some of the songs where, given the acoustic nature of the instruments and voices, the use of digital processing effects seems distracting. Still, this is a strong collection mastered by a strong duo.

For those in the market for a Howl-O collection often reminiscent of a spontaneous live performance with the added feature of well balanced sound levels and no crowd sounds obliterating lyrics, this is your chance.

- Note from Modern Bard
This CD is not yet available and Fugli's review is based on a pre-release copy of the CD.