Norwich duo Horses Brawl have been performing their own jaunty blend of early music on a nationwide tour, which they signed off in the city on 20 January, 2007. Their trip - which has taken in South Bank's Queen Elizabeth Hall, as well as other venues in London, Wales and Bath - marked the release of their three-track EP. Shave The Donkey signalled a new beginning for the outfit after they went from a trio to a duo in May when cellist Jon Manton left. It meant a slight change of direction for Laura Cannell and Adrian who have explored more French and Italian music for this record compared to their debut studio album of October 2005. "Because we were a trio and now we're a duo, we've had to think about things in a different way and how to arrange our music and I think we also wanted to broaden our ideas and get new styles in," said Laura. Having slightly strayed from the mainly traditional English sound of their first album, early music - drawing particularly on the Baroque and Renaissance eras - and European folk are the two main elements of Horses Brawl's current sound. Laura and Adrian are mindful about making their music as accessible as possible which is why they focus on performing lively songs with both ancient and modern instruments. "It's not twee - it's a real danger with playing early music and playing the recorder especially," said Laura. "It's contemporary to us so we're doing music that we care about." Their new EP caught the ears of BBC Radio 3 Late Junction presenter Verity Sharp who has played their songs on her show. With the duo having upped their rehearsals to two days a week, they're well on their way to producing new material for a summer album. For now though, Shave The Donkey is an indication of what's arriving. "We didn't want to leave a whole year between releases and it is a taster of the new album which we have started working on," said Laura. | 
