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| Track list: 1. Lover's Ghost 2. A Furlong of Flight 3. William's Sweetheart 4. Lord Lovel 5. Dorothy Lawrence 6. Baker's Oven 7. The Little Blind Girl 8. The Red Herring 9. Adrift, Adrift 10. The Hills of Kandahar 11. The Cruel Mother 12. Undaunted Female Running time: 44 minutes Released: 2017 |
This is a bit of an unknown, a new release I picked up sound unheard because folk singer with good reviews. An old fashioned punt in the dark in an era when that really isn't necessary. This is a first listen, to boot so this listen is unlikely to be definitive.
The opening sound is a low reverberating thrum, a dark contrast to Hood's light, bright voice that chimes over it. It is a good test of the new speaker I have attached for this one - less practical as it has no independent volume dial (and adjusting the PC volume isn't as "one-touch") - since my previous one was gunked up and wouldn't clean up nicely. The song is all here; underneath the vocal are an array of low key background sounds rather than a clear tune. The effect is nice, and I find the vocal style a bit reminiscent of the more interesting side of Lucy Ward. A decent beginning.
I had hoped to complete more listens in June, whilst on holiday, but issues with getting reliable power in meant my downtime was spent reading instead. Since I have been back I have been a little too pulled in multiple directions to get to this until now. As blind punts go, this one feels like it might pay out, as the second track - a more recognisable tune here - continues to exhibit a very engaging voice. There is a nice simplicity to it. We are firmly in quintessential folk sounds now, as a squeezebox takes up the lead on William's Sweetheart. Here the delivery of the lyric is tighter, clipped a bit, less floating.
There is, then, a versatility on display here; I find I rather like it. This applies to the music as well as the voice as the arrangements to the first 3 or 4 tracks are distinct and use different instruments and forms. Of this first third of the album, Lord Lovel is the least enjoyable by far; here there is something about the voices that doesn't quite gel with me. Hard to put my finger on what and why though. Happily it seems to be a brief misstep as a staccato string base hums under a more impressive vocal on the next track. There is a vibrancy to this that is really impressive - yet I find myself wondering at the same time how much I would really want to listen to it. I hear, and I appreciate, but I wonder about how repeatable that appreciation is. I think that is because some of these are quite stark, raw and open and so the songs can appear challenging.
Rosie Hood can really sing though. Really, really sing. More than just holding the tune, the timing and the expression in her delivery is gorgeous on The Little Blind Girl where (for I think the third time on the disc) she is really carrying everything on her as the accompaniment is almost an afterthought. The difference in accent aside, I also hear echoes of Eliza Carthy here, which is no bad thing, though I think Hood's voice is a little smaller and less forthright than Carthy's they share some rhythmic approaches. I would also call Hood a more musical singer - so not as good in some ways, better in others.
The variation in arrangements and styles seem to have normalised over the course of the disc, it feels slightly more consistent as it goes on, converging on more traditional folk structures, even as it goes off piste subject wise with a song about soldiers in Afghanistan. Of course, I spoke too soon; the very next track returns to a cappella, two voices alone. Nicely executed, but not at all an easy song to listen to. We then close with a return to voice over staccato bass. This form is probably my take home from the album, a nice stripped back way to present the songs - albeit one that I think you have to be in the right frame of mind to appreciate. I am not quite there by the end of this listen, not as much as I was at the start of it anyway. That might be the time, the oppressive humidity as even with the house opened up all day the thermostat reads 26 plus and the air is muggy and close.
Silence has fallen as that final track concluded. I found this a striking collection, one I am very glad to have heard but which I wonder about how often I would want to hear it again.
The opening sound is a low reverberating thrum, a dark contrast to Hood's light, bright voice that chimes over it. It is a good test of the new speaker I have attached for this one - less practical as it has no independent volume dial (and adjusting the PC volume isn't as "one-touch") - since my previous one was gunked up and wouldn't clean up nicely. The song is all here; underneath the vocal are an array of low key background sounds rather than a clear tune. The effect is nice, and I find the vocal style a bit reminiscent of the more interesting side of Lucy Ward. A decent beginning.
I had hoped to complete more listens in June, whilst on holiday, but issues with getting reliable power in meant my downtime was spent reading instead. Since I have been back I have been a little too pulled in multiple directions to get to this until now. As blind punts go, this one feels like it might pay out, as the second track - a more recognisable tune here - continues to exhibit a very engaging voice. There is a nice simplicity to it. We are firmly in quintessential folk sounds now, as a squeezebox takes up the lead on William's Sweetheart. Here the delivery of the lyric is tighter, clipped a bit, less floating.
There is, then, a versatility on display here; I find I rather like it. This applies to the music as well as the voice as the arrangements to the first 3 or 4 tracks are distinct and use different instruments and forms. Of this first third of the album, Lord Lovel is the least enjoyable by far; here there is something about the voices that doesn't quite gel with me. Hard to put my finger on what and why though. Happily it seems to be a brief misstep as a staccato string base hums under a more impressive vocal on the next track. There is a vibrancy to this that is really impressive - yet I find myself wondering at the same time how much I would really want to listen to it. I hear, and I appreciate, but I wonder about how repeatable that appreciation is. I think that is because some of these are quite stark, raw and open and so the songs can appear challenging.
Rosie Hood can really sing though. Really, really sing. More than just holding the tune, the timing and the expression in her delivery is gorgeous on The Little Blind Girl where (for I think the third time on the disc) she is really carrying everything on her as the accompaniment is almost an afterthought. The difference in accent aside, I also hear echoes of Eliza Carthy here, which is no bad thing, though I think Hood's voice is a little smaller and less forthright than Carthy's they share some rhythmic approaches. I would also call Hood a more musical singer - so not as good in some ways, better in others.
The variation in arrangements and styles seem to have normalised over the course of the disc, it feels slightly more consistent as it goes on, converging on more traditional folk structures, even as it goes off piste subject wise with a song about soldiers in Afghanistan. Of course, I spoke too soon; the very next track returns to a cappella, two voices alone. Nicely executed, but not at all an easy song to listen to. We then close with a return to voice over staccato bass. This form is probably my take home from the album, a nice stripped back way to present the songs - albeit one that I think you have to be in the right frame of mind to appreciate. I am not quite there by the end of this listen, not as much as I was at the start of it anyway. That might be the time, the oppressive humidity as even with the house opened up all day the thermostat reads 26 plus and the air is muggy and close.
Silence has fallen as that final track concluded. I found this a striking collection, one I am very glad to have heard but which I wonder about how often I would want to hear it again.
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