Fifth studio album
from BBC Folk Awards winner Karine Polwart. A fine mix of story and
song and quiet protest.
Pure of voice, and
possessed with a way of telling a good story within a song, Karine
Polwart's latest album will undoubtedly please her Radio Two target
audience. While her songs are rooted in traditional Scottish folk
forms, it's a record that shimmers with just the right amount of
modern studio gloss. Her closely miked voice augmented with
tastefully sparse addition of harmonium, guitar, sansula, clarinet,
and flute. Though the record may seem musically conservative,
especially to younger ears, it's the strength of the songwriting
that's her main asset and sets the album apart.
What really resonates
is her eye for a good story, and her ability to create something
compassionate and and compelling out of everyday observations. Take
for example Tinsel Town, where she recalls seeing magical lights and
flames from a petrochemical plant near her childhood home. It's
political without the overtness that would hamper a less talented
songsmith.
Elsewhere there are
tales of golf parks taking over local beauty spots despite nearby
resident's protests (Cover Your Eyes), adaptations of Russian poems
(Tears For Lot's Wife), homages to the emotional resonance of
buildings and homes (Sticks n Stones), and the heartbreaking tale of
the death of a schoolgirl taking her first unaccompanied walk home on
Half A Mile.
There's a case to made
for this album as a protest record. Not in an overt sense, but within
its quietly dignified stance, its belief in community and
neighbourliness, and its resolute opposition to big business' love of
profit over people.
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