Returning with their first new record in eight years, London six-piece The Severed Limb present ‘Skiffle in the Rain’, a collection of ten skiffle, folk and blues songs.

What other band has played the Royal Albert Hall whilst still busking the streets of London? Championed by the likes of Steve Lamacq, Mark Radcliffe and Andrew Weatherall, The Limb spent a decade building up a reputation as ‘the skiffle Clash’, an ethos they took to its limit before disbanding in 2018. Now, with the addition of three new members, their sound has happily returned to their acoustic, more humorous origins.

Chief-songwriter Robert Paul’s self-deprecating humour is in full effect on the singles ‘Skiffle in the Rain’ and the Jonathan Richman-like ‘Hong Kong Dollars’. But there are moments of poignancy and pathos such as the tenderly self-reflective ‘Twelfth Night’. Written in a short creative burst between Boxing Day and Twelfth Night, this is his most cohesive set of songs with wry-takes on middle-age, London life, trains to (and from) Southend-on-Sea, and very mild success.

Severed Limb mainstays Alex Barrow (accordion, splendid artwork) and Sam Soper (guitar, production) ensure everything remains pleasingly in-house, looking and sounding, unmistakably like a Severed Limb album.

Samantha Jean Scuffham (washboard, vocals, acoustic guitar) brings harmonies and melodies aplenty as well as starring on stand out track ‘See My Mother’, a beautiful acoustic folk song penned by Scuffham herself, and the album’s one cover-song, the skiffle classic ‘Freight Train’.

Dan Gray (previously of Skinny Lister) underpins everything with his steady hand on the double bass. And drummer Mike Brown’s harmonica playing threatens to steal the show on tracks like ‘Singapore Shakes’.

Overall this is the sound of a joyfully eccentric bunch of musicians at ease with themselves and their place in the grand scheme of things. After all, The Severed Limb is a skiffle band, no more, no less.