Kat Healy
Album: When You Are Gone (EP)
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 5
Website: http://www.kathealymusic.com/

Kat's another of those singer-songwriters whose earlier work (in this case her 2012 debut CD, Be Still Gentle Kind) I now regret completely missing out on, for its followup EP is nothing short of enchanting. Not only does Kat have a strong command of wistfulness as an expressive tool, derived from personal experience, but she also has a keenly developed sense of melody, that of Fly, Little Bird being especially beautiful.

Kat's chosen idiom is gentle folk-pop, but her writing can be heard to reveal deeper layers than that tag might otherwise suggest. Just sample the standout Weatherman, or the opening track No Heroes, or the closer When You Are Gone, between which only the slightly self-pitying Sorry feels insubstantial.

When I read that Kat's been making her name on the s/s scene since 2005, I'm not surprised - and yet I do feel surprise that it's taken her so long to bring out a CD. Here, she enjoys the company of her small and select band of musicians, comprising Thilo Pfander, Graham McLeod, Paul Gilbody, Graham Coe and Andrew Samson, who together bring piano, harmonium, cello, guitars, double bass and percussion into the mix. A persuasive collection.

David Kidman