This is quite a homecoming for accordionist Martin Green: Junction 2 reassuringly bustling as Lau walk onstage to enthusiastic applause. As a man who once lived five minutes walk away from tonight's venue, returning to Cambridge as part of an award-winning trio (Best Group at the 2008 and 2009 Radio 2 Folk Awards) must be very gratifying.

It is certainly a pleasure to see an erstwhile ‘local muso' developing an interesting musical career and, I'll not deny, his presence initiated my curiosity about Lau. An evening in Soham Village Hall just over a year ago showcased an act with great depth and humour. Now that Green, Drever (Kris - guitars/vocals) and O'Rourke (Aiden - fiddle) are consolidating this project with a second album (Arc Light) and tour, the friendship and mild joshing I witnessed last year soon emerges. You don't just get virtuoso music from these guys, they constantly tease each other onstage. And that is part of their charm.

Ergo, Kris's gentle but totally unsubtle nudge with their singular set list when Martin forgets "The Unquiet Grave" and begins a tale of writing in a geo-thermally heated studio during the coldest winter for years. Rarely lost for words, he is only momentarily silenced. When the right moment does come, the ‘geo-thermal' song ("Winter Moon") emerges as a beautiful wistful composition that sets in motion an extended mental tape loop. A memorable song? - oh yeah!

It is especially calming after "Sea", the aural equivalent of a stormy one. Featuring some particularly fine accordion, this upbeat and rhythmic tune, inspired by a ferry crossing from Oban to Mull, exhibits so much ‘bounce' I almost turn a delicate shade of green. Lau's pictorial artistry doesn't stop there either. "The Burrian" layers up a dramatic soundscape as forbidding as the landform it depicts (a rock on Fair Isle). "Horizontigo" - an Orcadian response to our flat fens - begins gently with horizontal acoustic slide guitar, before climbing to a rousing three-pronged peak that owes as much to freeform jazz as traditional folk music.

I could go on, but first hand exposure to their eclectic blend of musical influences would be much more inspiring. Lau live is an experience I highly recommend.

Writer: Lyn Guy