Sheila Chandra, Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, Tunng, Benjamin Zephaniah, Paul Weller and others join forces with Simon Emmerson for a reworking of classic English folk songs.

But as well as acting as a short who’s who of English folk The Imagined Village sees another superb collection of English folk songs given a modern twist and interpreted by some of the strongest voices in folk, just as A Rogue’s Gallery did with sea shanties, pirate songs and ballads. The difference between the two comes in the consistent quality Emmerson achieves, and rather than the rag tag collection of sea songs that makes up A Rogue’s Gallery this feels like an album held together by a producer with a plan and a vision for folk music.

Zephaniah retelling the otherworldly tale of ‘Tam Lyn’ with an industrial modern setting is followed by Tunng’s distinctive folktronica and Emmerson’s Afro-Celt influences are evident in the dubby reworking of ‘John Barleycorn’ and more subtly in other numbers.

Listening over the tracks things haven’t moved on much since these tales were written down: the stories are still about sex and death and they are still strong enough to be told and retold.

The beats change. The context changes. The story stays the same.

Imagined Village is released on Realworld on 10 September.