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Product Description
Product Description
Stunning new release from award winning Scottish folk singer Emily Smith. Beautiful collection of contemporary and traditional material. Recent appearances include Meltdown Festival, BBC Songs of Praise and Transatlantic Sessions. A leading light of the contemporary Scottish folk scene, Emily Smith's powerful, clear vocals have gained her award winning, worldwide recognition. As a songwriter she has been likened to 'a Scottish Joni Mitchell', but as a collector is equally adept at presenting fresh and evocative interpretations of traditional songs. Smith burst onto the folk scene in 2002 when she won BBC Radio Scotland's Young Traditional Musician of the Year Award. Steering a delicately poised course between the worlds of traditional and contemporary folk recording sessions for BBC Radio 2's Bob Harris, Mike Harding and Aled Jones and was a featured singer on award winning TV series Transatlantic Sessions 4. Alongside her solo career she has worked with artists from the folk scene and beyond including Eddi Reader, Beth Nielsen Chapman and Karine Polwart. Smith's new release, Traiveller's Joy, features songs written on the road throughout 2010 blending alongside traditional material sourced from the travelling people of Scotland. Emily continues to draw inspiration from her home area of Dumfriesshire but this release sees her writing from a more personal viewpoint than before. Covers include 'Waltzing's For Dreamers' by Richard Thompson, whom Emily opened for on his UK tour in 2009 and was subsequently featured at London's Meltdown Festival 2010 during his year as curator.
Review
These days, everyone’s a folkie. It seems that just as in the wake of punk rock, everyone suddenly had short hair and a skinny tie, so in this age of post-fiddly-diddly music, young men and women are growing beards, putting on peasant frocks and sticking brand new recording contracts in their ears. Authenticity is, as ever, the best calling card, and if you’ve medals for singing in the crofts or you can tune your own fiddle, you’re well ahead for a crack at the Radio Two Folk Awards.
Emily Smith certainly covers lots of bases. Authentically Scottish (those Mumford & Sons lads have a massive setback with their public schooling), she danced at ceilidhs and was BBC Radio Scotland's Young Traditional Music of the Year in 2002. She’s as folkie in her roots as the Sex Pistols were punk. And, from its quaintly-misspelled title-track to its Richard Thompson cover, her fifth album gives a strong impression of being in the new folkie/singer-songwriter tradition of Kate Rusby and Laura Marling.
In fact, Smith is a much more mainstream, albeit waif-like singer, than the rest. A fine musician and a talented interpretative singer, Smith avoids the grit that much of the modern scene opts for, and at times – like on the remarkably semolina-esque Dreams and Lullabies – her delivery veers more towards Karen Carpenter rather than, say, Eddi Reader. When small amounts of grit are delivered, as in a version of Thompson’s Waltzing’s for Dreamers, they are covered in a sweet and by no means disagreeable croon.
After a while, the record’s saccharine nature rather starts to overwhelm its musical excellence and Smith’s delightful warble reminds the listener not so much of Joni Mitchell, as some other reviews have claimed, but of that other popular and attractive singer of Celtic origin, Katherine Jenkins. A pretty and well-made record, then, but one perhaps better suited to lingering shots of lovely glens in a trailer for Coast rather than excitable modern listening.
--David Quantick
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By Fergal Woods
Format:MP3 Download
Emily has maintained the high quality of her output with this fine release. Crystal clear clarity, a very sweet voice, an emphasis on melody and ideal musical backing will easily cement her reputation and win new fans. I must confess to being a sucker for Scottish accents and tend to prefer her more "traditional" sounding songs.
This album has a theme running through which concerns travelling and many of the songs were actually written abroad. She also makes more use of international musicians (eg Stuart Duncan) so from time to time there are country or bluegrass influences like in "Take you Home". There is a pleasing mix of tempos and Emily does a number of cover versions like "Waltzing's for Dreamers",the rollicking "Gypsy Davy" and "Somewhere along the Road" where for me she does not quite reach the standard set by Cathie Ryan on her album of the same name. She again finishes with an unaccompanied track - a policy often followed by fellow Scot Julie Fowlis.
So there are a number of subtle developments evident on this recording but I would like to see Emily branch into some more challenging topics, as folk shouldn't always be easy listening. It's only a minor point of opinion but I'd like to see her tackle some material with more depth or bite like compatriot Karine Polwart (a superior writer) often comes up with. "Lord Donald" is a good move in this direction.
Rest assured if you're already a fan this record is well up to standard and even if not quite reaching the heights of "Too Long Away" will grace any collection !
This album has a theme running through which concerns travelling and many of the songs were actually written abroad. She also makes more use of international musicians (eg Stuart Duncan) so from time to time there are country or bluegrass influences like in "Take you Home". There is a pleasing mix of tempos and Emily does a number of cover versions like "Waltzing's for Dreamers",the rollicking "Gypsy Davy" and "Somewhere along the Road" where for me she does not quite reach the standard set by Cathie Ryan on her album of the same name. She again finishes with an unaccompanied track - a policy often followed by fellow Scot Julie Fowlis.
So there are a number of subtle developments evident on this recording but I would like to see Emily branch into some more challenging topics, as folk shouldn't always be easy listening. It's only a minor point of opinion but I'd like to see her tackle some material with more depth or bite like compatriot Karine Polwart (a superior writer) often comes up with. "Lord Donald" is a good move in this direction.
Rest assured if you're already a fan this record is well up to standard and even if not quite reaching the heights of "Too Long Away" will grace any collection !
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this lovely album after hearing the track ' Sweet Lover Of Mine ' and it was only after that did I discover that Emily Smith had done a fabulous cover of the superb Richard Thompson song ' Waltzings For Dreamers ', one of my all time favourite songs from RT's vast and first class reportoire.Besides from that, this whole album has a great feel to it with great contributions in particular from Alan Doherty on flute and Stuart Duncan on fiddle.A really fresh and enjoyable listen.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By Sapphire
Format:Audio CD
This album really shows Emily at her best. Very much enjoying every track - lots of variety. Great vocals, great musicians - what more could you want?! If you have never heard Emily before, now's the time to start!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
voice of an angel
The voice of an angel and the looks to match a superb album beautiful interpretations of songs both self penned and traditional
Published 3 months ago by Mr. S. D. Price
5.0 out of 5 stars
A sheer Joy
Emily has a beautiful voice and this album gets played, on and on and on. It is a sheer joy to listen to. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Blue
5.0 out of 5 stars
From The Top Drawer
The best album so far from Emily. Her clear and melodious voice breathes life into every track, and they are all superb songs. Traiveller's Joy is a listening joy.
Published on 29 Mar 2011 by dands
5.0 out of 5 stars
Something new
I totally agree with the reviewer who spoke of the crystal clarity of Emily Smith's voice. I found this CD quite by accident, and instantly when I heard the samples on line I knew... Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2011 by Amandine
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful CD
Yet another wonderfull CD from Emily Smith.
The highlight for me was Richard Thompson's Waltzing's for Dreamers. Read more
The highlight for me was Richard Thompson's Waltzing's for Dreamers. Read more
Published on 2 Mar 2011 by Dewi Griffith
5.0 out of 5 stars
Listening Joy
I bought this album as I had heard Emily Smith a couple of times on the Mike Harding show on Radio 2 and loved the sweet sound of her voice. Read more
Published on 20 Feb 2011 by Alan J. Barnett
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fabulous voice!
Emily Smith's superb voice together with the wonderful mix of flutes, strings and percussion really make this an album worth buying. Read more
Published on 19 Feb 2011 by ik_49
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Scottish cracker !
Emily's voice is so clear and beautiful, like a Highland stream ! I bought her first album prior to seeing her at a folk festival and I've been hooked ever since. Read more
Published on 12 Feb 2011 by Martin Friend
5.0 out of 5 stars
An invigorating folk album, highly recommended.
Such a beautiful album!
This is Emily's fourth solo album and for me it's her best by far. Read more
This is Emily's fourth solo album and for me it's her best by far. Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2011 by Music Lover
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