Almanac (Exclusive)

Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo - Almanac (Everyone Sang)
With Mumfords picking up all sorts of gongs, and Bellowhead and the Unthanks cleaning up at mainstream summer festivals and fronting their own shows on BBC4, folk music is definitely on the up.

Australian born Emily Barker (with The Red Clay Halo) has already turned heads with her 2008 offering "Despite The Snow", and if greater success follows with "Almanac" expect to start seeing and hearing Barker and her band everywhere. Without a doubt, they have the potential to be huge. Their songs seem tailor-made for radio play; the arrangements drip lavish strings and each comes fully formed with the sort of vocal hooks pop fans crave - and what fine vocals they are.

It's a winning combination that will appeal across the board and even the gloomiest amongst us must take pleasure at the gypsy excess of "Ropes" or the lightheaded thrill of "Little Deaths". 9/10.
Comment

Although it has its darker moments Australia-born singer/songwriter
Emily Barker's new album 'Almanac' is a largely warm-hearted affair.
Even when she tackles a break-up song like opening track
'Billowing Sea' the almost jaunty arrangement bounces along
helping her to keep her pecker up and her dignity intact.

Her ensemble The Red Clay Halo (Gill Sandell, Jo Silverston
and Anna Jenkins, who provide vocal harmonies and play a
wide range of musical instruments) are further augmented by
Ted Barnes, guitars; Nat Butler, drums; Ali Friend, double bass;
Liz Jones, trumpet and Ben Eshmade on french and flugel horns.
Together they create a gloriously varied sonic tapestry for
Ms Barker to embroider with her confident but pretty voice.

There are eleven songs in the collection. The roots of the
music dig deep into both folk and country traditions and
come back with a barrel-load of riches. Stories! That's
what it is! It is Ms Barker's stories which make 'Almanac' so
special. She has taken time to think carefully about her subjects
and the resulting tales, as well as the luminous music, bring a
sense of time, place and pathos to the project's overall mood.

Some of these compositions are truly delightful. 'Dancers',
co-written with Ted Barnes, is as fresh and clear as the morning
dew. A simple melody full of longing and (here as elsewhere) a
palpable scent of the sea. The waves are never far away.

In 'Pause' Ms Barker sings : "Who am I without your love?"
The song is a real heart-breaker. (Who among us has not asked
the same question at least once in our lives?!) The pace is
slow; the organ and guitar ponderous; the harmonies sublime.
All-in-all one of the most painfully beautiful inventions I
have heard in the waxing and waning of a year's full moons.

'Calendar', on the other hand, is a cautiously cheerful affair.
A reflection on what we might lose in the world if we don't
take care of it somewhat better than we currently seem to be.

'Witch Of Pittenweem' delivers one of the album's most powerful
narratives. Her subject's fate is described in imagery of savage
and disturbing clarity. Based on an account of witch trials in
the Scottish fishing village of Pittenweem in the early 1700's,
Ms Barker's imaginative response brings the horror back to life.

Final track 'Bones' may well have a historically determined
context too but we are treated instead to a distillation of
reflections on violence, death and decay which, within the
framework of a highly evocative musical arrangement, brings
the album to a chilling and ambiguous close.

'Almanac' is an album full of ghosts and memories brought into
vivid being by Ms Barker's skillful management of her muse
and consummate understanding of her craft. Utterly magical.

Highly Recommended.

I can't believe there are currently only 2 other reviews for this brilliant album! I was attracted to it as it features the theme for "The Shadow Line" and I had already enjoyed the Wallander theme so was ready to enjoy it. The first listen confirmed the potential. What I wasn't ready for was how it grabbed me as I listened further and the beauty and complexity of arrangements and harmonies took hold. Delicate folk songs lead to powerful crescendos. Stories abound. There are things for everyone here. You can feel the ghosts of great performers who have gone before - name your own, depending on your age! Boundaries blur between folk and country and Emily has a voice that copes with blues and jazz. Yet the outcome is unique rather than merely derivative. I have enjoyed many of the artists and albums in the latest folk revival but this is certainly up there with the best.