The combination of singer/songwriter Fred Smith and bass player/singer Liz Frencham first appeared on the Australian folk scene in 2002. Since then they have been regulars at folk festivals while pursuing their own solo careers and, in Smith's case, working on musical projects in the South Pacific. This album, the amusingly titled Lovethongs (to be said with just a hint of a lisp) is about as good as contemporary singer/songwriter folk music gets in Australia. Smith is a superb songwriter with a wry sense of humour and a wonderful eye for the idiosyncrasies of modern life (the delightful light and simple Have You Got A Heart is a tour de force about that eternal subject of all musicians – love on the road) and Frencham has a voice with all the appeal, emotional honesty and clarity of someone like Shawn Colvin or Mary Chapin Carpenter. Yes, really, she is that good. The power of the album lies in Smith's ability to write genuinely catchy melodies and lyrics which, like those of Loudon Wainwright III, are characterised by simple, self-deprecatory wit. There is no other folk duo in Australia which even comes close to this magical combination.

Bruce Elder, Sydney Morning Herald