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45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A delightful surprise, 26 Sep 2005
In an era where most worthy musical acts announce their arrival on the scene with a fanfare and a flourish, this album managed to sneak up on me like a gentle little surprise. Even in the less commercially enslaved world of the folk-influenced singer-songwriter, there are still a plethora of artists who owe their success as much to image and marketing as they do to their art (Katie Melua, Cara Dillon and Kate Rusby spring immediately to mind). Karine Polwart, by contrast, seems to have gone from obscurity to 2005 Radio 2 Folk Award multi-winner by dint of nothing more than her own hard work and charm. On the strength of her first solo effort, the awards are entirely deserved.Karine is one of those rare artists who can tackle really dark subject matter with a combination of almost girlish naivety and wonderfully quirky good humour. The album is a 50:50 mix of ballads which in other artists' hands would be enough to depress the socks off you, and tongue in cheek, lilting reflections on the foibles of humankind which simply can't fail to raise a smile. The album opener, "Only One Way", is one of the jauntiest pieces of guitar-pop you'll hear all year, and "Four Strong Walls" positively sparkles with life-affirming laughter; yet Karine manages to move from these uptempo tracks to melancholy musings on abandonment and depression (the exquisite "The Sun's Coming Over the Hill"), bereavement (the heart-rending "Waterlily") and murder in suburbia ("Azalea Flower") with butterfly-like ease. There is subtle social commentary in a few of the songs (from the back-handed compliment to Bush and Blair in "Only One Way" to the reflection on the human tragedy of the Bosnian war in "Waterlily") but this is never the raison d'etre for the songs, and often it's done so subtly that you only become aware of it after repeated listening. Meanwhile, lyrics like "You put me back together again just like the trick with the saw and the lady", "I always wondered how Lassie could tell the good guys from bad guys just by their smell" and "If it's true that ignorance is bliss then you must be coming all the time" display a wicked sense of humour and a sharp eye for human nature which, if anything, only promise even greater things to come. It must also be said that Karine Polwart is a wonderfully gifted singer with an enchanting voice, that's equally at home with a solo acoustic guitar or a full band accompanying her. She is also one of the most charming live performers I've seen in recent years. To sum up: so far this has been THE album of 2005 for me. A wonderful, unexpected discovery, and one that deserves to grow in many people's hearts.
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~ Karine Polwart
~ Karine Polwart
~ Karine Polwart
~ Various Artists
~ Kate Rusby
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