Reviews

Shirley Collins
Album: Heart's Ease
Label: Domino
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.shirleycollins.co.uk

At the start of the 1980s, Shirley, unquestionably one of England's finest folk singers, at that point had an illustrious nigh-on-25-year career behind her. But a severe attack of dysphonia seemed to signal a permanent end to her performing career, with a total and seemingly irretrievable loss of singing voice and a concomitant loss of confidence. However, a staggering 35 years on, and only after some intense coaxing from David Tibet (Current 93), she was able to make a small handful of very tentative public appearances, and - miracle of miracles - then managed to record and release a full-length comeback album, Lodestar, which signalled a triumphant return to singing and was deservedly enthusiastically received. The timbre of Shirley's singing voice had - inevitably - changed in the intervening 38 years since her previous, 1978, recording, with a newly knowing earthiness and depth, but other key qualities - its sheer unmistakability and unaffected nature, and Shirley's innate ability to inhabit a song - were heard to have remained intact. Any final crises of confidence on Shirley's part in terms of making a record were swept away by the imposition of stringent recording conditions by Shirley's sympathetic producer friend Ian Kearey (Lodestar was, in effect, a "field recording with damn good technology").

Even given the unreservedly positive reception accorded to Lodestar, the very fact of Shirley then being already into her 80s seemed to greatly reduce the odds of us ever being treated to a followup. But Lodestar was followed by a biographical film, an autobiography All In The Downs and even a small number of comeback concerts where Shirley was supported by a close-knit group of musician friends (The Lodestar Band) under the leadership of the good Mr. Kearey. A greatly increased confidence gave rise to Shirley's agreement to enter a Brighton studio to record Lodestar's followup collection, Heart's Ease.

The sheer ease and relaxed nature of Shirley's delivery signals not a lack of involvement in the songs' stories, but precisely the reverse, an almost conversational enticement to the listener through intimate and impeccable diction. The other distinctive dimension in the cohesive audio signature of Heart's Ease is its soundworld, conjured by Kearey's interesting and imaginative, occasionally experimental, at times slightly strange musical arrangements, within which Shirley is thoroughly comfortable. By which I don't mean complacent, for there's a frisson of mutual understanding amidst the concord, however unorthodox the textures or their complementary deployment. Throughout the album, Ian's musicianship is a key feature, with delicate and beautiful fingerwork on an assortment of (acoustic and electric) guitars, dobro, mandolin, ukulele, bass - and naturally, "The Instrument" (Shirley's own custom-built dulcimer-banjo hybrid dating from the '60s). Other musicians involved in providing the ideal understated foil to Shirley's voice are Ossian Brown, Pip Barnes and Rattle On The Stovepipe chums Dave Arthur and Pete Cooper, with guest appearances by John Watcham, Nathan Salsburg, Matthew Shaw and Glen Redman.

As you'd expect, the Heart's Ease menu is steeped in English and American tradition. Central to this are a handful of what (unexpectedly) turn out to be first-recordings (for Shirley, that is) of songs with a direct and special personal connection. Two of them - Wondrous Love (from the Shape Note tradition) and The Merry Golden Tree (from the singing of Almeda Riddle) hark back to the late '50s when Shirley was recording and collecting folksongs in the States with Alan Lomax. There's also a freshly minted version of Barbara Allen (Appalachian and English versions of which, with different tunes, Shirley had recorded on earlier albums). And two items of Sussex origin: Canadee-I-O (collected in that county by Peter Kennedy in the mid-1950s) gorgeous, aromatic take on Christmas Song (from the singing of the Copper Family). While Tell Me True, is an eerily simple Sweet William/Sailor's Life/Died For Love variant, a major portion of whose text (though not the tune) was sourced from Peter Kennedy's recording of the seven-year-old gypsy singer Sheila Smith. The remainder of the Heart's Ease tracklist is equally delectable - and though less easily foreseeable, in fact rather intriguing. A compelling centrepiece for the album is Shirley's reimagining (and temporal transposition) of Locked In Ice, a 1998 song by sister Dolly's late son Buz recounting the true story of "little ghost ship" The Baychimo.

Shirley also revisits two contrasted songs by her first husband Austin John Marshall: the quirky self-portrait of family life Sweet Greens And Blues (done to a tune that's pretty much that of the American folksong Pretty Saro), and the now well-known but still ultra-poignant Whitsun Dance. The latter then forms the first entry in the stream-of-consciousness sequence of the album's final three tracks, whereby the song is succeeded by the Cotswold Morris tune Orange In Bloom) and Crowlink, a broodingly atmospheric English Channel tone-painting-cum-sound-composition by Matthew Shaw based around an ominous hurdy gurdy drone, wave-washed electronica and the cries of sea birds, into which is woven at one point a sample of Shirley singing a brief segment of Locked In Ice. Seen as a creative cinematic corollary to Locked In Ice, Crowlink is bold and elemental, and works to provide its own context here, but I'm still not convinced of any "potential future direction" status that it may purport to signify for Shirley and her musical collaborators. That element of caution aside, though, I can endorse Heart's Ease with a "hearty" recommendation. Since finally, for all that we as listeners have got used to not being challenged or stimulated by new albums these days, I might almost venture to remark that listening to Heart's Ease as a collection brings a sense of discovery and delight - and yes, surprise - akin to that I remember from first encountering seminal LPs like The Power Of The True Love Knot, Anthems In Eden, No Roses and Folk Roots, New Routes. We must congratulate Shirley, for Heart's Ease is indeed well titled for its amalgamation of "heartfelt" and "ease": such an apt description of her achievement with an album which showcases her singing at its new-best and with interpretive powers undiminished.

NB - Heart's Ease is released in four different formats: vinyl LP (standard and deluxe editions), CD and digital.

David Kidman

Previous	Next
Ceri James: Red Mist	Evangeline Gentle: Evangeline Gentle

Recent Reviews

Sweet Greens And Blues

Fatea Showcase Sessions

The Fatea Showcase Sessions are a series of downloads featuring acts that we've really enjoyed and think that more people should get the chance to hear.

Pirate is the current session and features 16 fantastic artists check out the website to find out more about them and download your copy

www.fatea-showcase-sessions.co.uk for all the artist information.

Visit The FATEA Archive!