One of the freshest sounding groups to have emerged on Scotland’s folk scene of late are heading to Cardiff this month.

Fara have only been writing and recording together since 2014 but the quartet – fiddlers Kristan Harvey, Jeana Leslie and Catriona Price, alongside pianist Jennifer Austin – have been honing their sound ever since they grew up together amid the splendid surrounds of the Orkney Islands.

Following their 2016 debut album, this supremely talented four-piece are ready to unveil their second long player Times From Times Fall – a celebration of their homeland packed with self-composed tunes and songs primarily drawn from the words of Orcadian poets.

Developing the vibrant arrangements, rich harmonies, energetic fiddles, driving piano and stunning vocals heard on Cross The Line two years ago, Times From Times Fall saw the band co-writing many of the tunes’ melodies.

They found working together in one room to be a wonderful team-building experience, and one which gave rise to new and different ideas. That included using the three fiddles in a manner almost akin to how they already employ vocal harmonies, adding further layers and texture to their sound.

In addition to three writing retreats, some of the music had its genesis on the road in America, as the band spent several weeks touring across the pond prior to recording at Castlesound Studios, just outside Edinburgh, in June.

All four musicians found working with top Scottish folk guitarist Anna Massie as producer and studio owner Stuart Hamilton as engineer to be a warm and rewarding experience.

Inspirational themes range from Orkney’s emigration history and scientist James Clark Maxwell’s discoveries to Jeana’s propensity to add extra letters to words (The Depliction) and her childhood confusion at Catriona’s German mother’s use of the word “nein”.

The album title, a line from Song (Love Gathers All) by Edwin Muir, was chosen as a reflection on the passage of time and how long the band have known one another.

That shared upbringing colours everything that Fara have become, and gives them a playful poise and instinctive musical understanding more commonly found in groups that have toured together for decades.

All four women say the process of working together as adults has created something of a Fara “sisterhood”. Twinned with a musical knowhow acquired through study and time spent recording and performing within a diverse array of prominent projects, that makes for a potent creative mix.

Cutting their cloth at top educational establishments (The Royal Academy of Music, The Royal Northern College of Music, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Strathclyde University), the band’s members have worked on projects – some folkie, some less so – including Blazin’ Fiddles, Jeana Leslie & Siobhan Miller, Rachel Sermanni and Twelfth Day.

Between them they have clocked up a host of accolades, including the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award, the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year, the Deutsche Bank Award in Performance and Composition and the Danny Kyle Award, along the way.

Each member brings contrasting personalities and a distinctive musical palette to the table, but the strong Orkney fiddle tradition as at the heart of all their characters – the glue that binds them together.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given they initially took root from Orkney’s riotous eight-piece party band favourites The Chair, Fara are past masters at good-going, whisky-soaked Northern Isles fiddle tunes, embellished by endlessly imaginative piano and string arrangements.

Having a laugh on stage with audiences will always be a key component of what Fara do as a band, and Times From Times Fall showcases but their fun and serious sides.

The album’s more tender moments encompass plaintive paeans to loss (Jeana’s See It All) and heartfelt homages to some of their nearest and dearest (At the Ebb, Frances’ Day, Miss Rosa Sermanni Holmes).

Closer Maxwell’s Light, meanwhile, is a simply beautiful piano piece Jennifer was commissioned to write by the Orkney Science Festival in 2015, marking the 150th anniversary of the of the Edinburgh scientist’s discovery of the nature of light.

The 50-minute LP is the clearest evidence yet that Fara are set to become an enduring name in Scottish folk circles. Times From Times Fall is the work of a quartet who know the tradition inside out, yet are unafraid to draw on more classical and mainstream influences to create a truly intoxicating blend of contemporary roots music.

You can catch Fara headline at the Acapela Studios in Pentyrch on May 19