BELINDA O’Hooley laughs at the suggestion that she and partner Heidi Tidow have produced an un-Christmassy Christmas album.

“There is a little bit of Christmas in there,” she said of the duo’s latest release, WinterFolk. “It’s just different. I suppose we wanted to shed an alternative light on Christmas. We wanted to do something that reflected the darker and more disenfranchised side of Christmas.”

As one of the folk world’s most revered duos, renowned for their harmonies and Belinda’s beautiful piano accompaniments, WinterFolk is just the latest instalment in an ever-growing catalogue of albums which stand out from the norm.

WinterFolk was born out of their audiences desire to get a permanent record of the duo’s festive tours.

“We’ve done a couple of tours around Christmas time and people kept asking where they could get the songs from,” said Belinda. “So we thought we’d best do an album.”

Featuring reworkings of some of their older songs and also with a few new numbers added, Belinda said that the overall impact of the album was not obvious until the recording process ended.

Recorded in March at the Museum of Modern Art in Wales with award-winning musician Ben Walker providing string arrangements the aim, said Belinda, was to slow things down a little and add to the wintery feel of existing songs.

“It was only when we played the whole thing back we both looked at each other and went ‘oh, this is bleak’,” she said. “But the response so far has been great. People have said it is refreshing for an album to be so emotional.

“Christmas can be a time when people struggle more than usual,” said Belinda, “it’s not all tinsel.

“It can be a time of tension; people may spend more than they can afford, they may be struggling to cope being with their family.

“I know from my own experience when struggled because my sexuality wasn’t particularly welcome when I was younger in my own family, it can be a hard time.”

The album will form the basis of the show when Belinda and Heidi come to Bury Met next week.

“We’re also peppering it with songs from other albums. I wouldn’t call them hits but they are the ones people really seem to like so we’ve put some of them in,” she said.

“We’re looking forward to coming to the Met. We haven’t been since the renovations were carried out.”

It will be a relatively short trip for the pair who have made their home near Huddersfield – last month they celebrated their first wedding anniversary.

“We love the area, there is a uniqueness to the people, the language and the history,” said Belinda. “If you start looking there is so much to sing and write about.

“We are different in that we don’t have an agent or manager. We do it all ourselves and that means we can do things slightly off grid when we want.

“We like to go walking and often find ourselves being told things by other people – stories and anecdotes which can form the basis for a song. I think the key to being a writer is really to be a good listener.”

Bury will be one of the last dates before the pair take a Christmas break.

“On Christmas Eve we will have our works do in a pub in Huddersfield,” said Belinda. “That’s basically me and Heidi and then on Christmas day we’ll go for a long walk on the moors and come back for a roast dinner.”

O’Hooley and Tidow, Bury Met, Thursday, December 21. Details from 0161 761 2216 or www.themet.biz