Seth Lakeman hates labels. And those who label the music he makes ‘folk music’ may find themselves having to redefine the widely perceived meaning of the term. Maybe he’s the new face of folk for the 21st century; more likely he’s just a great new singer songwriter. Though his music is inspired by, and sometimes infused with, the folk scene he grew up in, one listen to his new album, “Freedom Fields”, and you realise it does not sit easily in any generic straight jacket. And Seth Lakeman likes it that way: “I suppose the music I make is folk-influenced – because that’s what I grew up with. However, I like to think that my music crosses barriers and genres - that’s the whole point of what I do" Lakeman’s looks and style are as far away from any woolly jumper folk stereotype as you can get. And while there are elements of the traditional in his music (in the sense that he uses acoustic instruments) he also delivers a rhythmic, contemporary sound and vivid lyrical imagery, fusing the energetic performance ethic of punk or rock with the heartfelt emotion of blues and soul. What Seth Lakeman loves best of all is performing live. On stage he’s intense and compelling, attacking his four-string tenor guitar with the ferocity of Joe Strummer, and singing with the passion of Jeff Buckley. Never was such a furious sound kicked up by an ‘unplugged’ quartet of fiddle, acoustic guitar, bodhran and cojon (the percussive box used in flamenco) and double bass. ‘Freedom Fields’, marries a dark and evocative lyrical content with a musical frenzy that at points echoes Led Zeppelin’s landmark third album – the sound of a heavy rock band with blues inclinations tapping into their folk roots. Of course when that album was conceived Seth wasn’t even born. Seth Lakeman was born in 1977, the year of punk rock and the Queen’s silver jubilee, on a quiet corner of Devon’s gloriously wild Dartmoor. It’s still the place that he calls home, from which he refuses to be parted for long, and the place whose peculiarly English tales of dark deeds and doomed romances provide inspiration for much of his music – just as it did for previous generations of writers, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles’) and Daphne du Maurier (Jamaica Inn). Music has always been part of Seth’s life: his parents were part of a touring band which included Seth and his older brothers Sean and Sam, who all played from an early age and subsequently performed as The Lakeman Brothers. Seth grew up rubbing shoulders with British folk legends like Martin Carthy and recent Mojo Award winner Bert Jansch. But at the same time he was playing air guitar in his bedroom to AC/DC’s ‘Back In Black’. Twenty years later you can hear both influences. The three brothers went on to become part of the highly feted but short lived folk band, Equation, along with Kathryn Roberts, Kate Rusby and, later, Cara Dillon. Eventually, having toured the world, Seth struck out on his own, setting up his own label, I-Scream Records, from a room in his cottage on Dartmoor. ‘Kitty Jay’ – made in his brother’s kitchen, “with the fridge unplugged to stop interference with recording” – was put together for just £300 and was somewhat audaciously launched with a gig inside Dartmoor’s top security Prison. Not long afterwards, Seth was sitting by the side of a road in the West Country wondering what to do with his broken down car when he got a call informing him that ‘Kitty Jay’ had been short-listed for the Mercury Music Prize, widely regarded as the most prestigious in British music. That phone call represented a career changing moment and the nomination helped ‘Kitty Jay’ generate sales of more than 20,000 and instantly brought Seth to a much wider audience - which continues to expand apace. Now comes ‘Freedom Fields’, another collection of soaring self-penned tales of love, conflict and mysteries that see his song writing skills honed further still. Inspired by ancient tales but somehow totally modern, Seth manages to refract personal experiences and emotions through these stories, and in doing so he has found a unique lyrical voice – one that encompasses universal themes of love and loss. Indeed the sense of time and place in his work is as raw and vital as the urban reportage of The Streets or the Arctic Monkeys’ chronicles of Sheffield in 2006. It’s an exciting time for folk’s legacy to popular music. A new generation of folk-inspired singer songwriters is making waves on both sides of the Atlantic – here we have Beth Orton, KT Tunstall and Damien Rice; the US boasts Conor ‘Bright Eyes’ Oberst, Davendra Banhart and Sufjan Stevens. Seth Lakeman is in good company then, and in “Freedom Fields” continues deliver vital, self assured, brilliantly evocative music to a new generation. Seth picked up two awards at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2007: Folk Singer of The Year and Best Album for Freedom Fields.