Pandemonium: The Essential Bellowhead

Having announced their impending breakup in early 2015, clamorous British folk ensemble Bellowhead celebrate their end times with the anthology Pandemonium: The Essential Bellowhead. Under the leadership of frontman Jon Boden, the sprawling 11-piece band cut a mighty swath through U.K. folk music, adapting sea shanties, work songs, and traditional dance tunes into the exuberant and often bawdy brass and fiddle-laden arrangements that were their hallmark. Their big sound seemed fully formed from the beginning, and the songs from their 2006 debut, like the clever ska-inflected "London Town," sit easily alongside later cuts like the sprawling theatrical sea shanty "Roll Alabama," which arrived on 2014's excellent Revival. Bellowhead are anything but subtle and their energy and flair aren't for everyone, but their bold vision is theirs alone and it plays out nicely on this 13-track highlight reel. ~ Timothy Monger