Kelly Oliver
Album: Far From Home
Label: Folkstock
Tracks: 5
Website: http://www.kellyoliver.co.uk

Surprisingly, "Far From Home" is both Kelly Oliver and Folkstock Records' debut release, though from the moment your hear the hirst chord, you know better bigger things await both of them as this very accomplished release shows.

Oliver has emerged as a singer/songwriter in the Hertfordshire area, not far from where she graduated at Royal Holloway and very quickly shows that as well as turning a narrative into a song, she's no slouch when it comes to the guitar and her delicate approach to the harmonica sets her apart from a lot of musicians on that particular instrument.

There is a reflective quality that permeates through the ep, something that holds true of songs that hold family connections as much as those of a more general nature. You get the impression of an artist that takes much in and then ensures what she wants to say comes out as she wants it, rather than as a stream of consciousness approach, it's an approach that really suits her voice and also gives rise to hints of Annie Briggs and then a drift towards Dylan as she blends in the harmonica.

The clear and crisp production ensures that the delivery is about as pure as you'd want it to be without it being sterile, i.e. you can hear the personality of the artist bursting forth in the song and you can't ask any more of an artist than that.

Folk is getting well into the third revival and showing that it's a music for the twenty first century and it's artists like Kelly Oliver that will help drive it forward, hopefully to wider and wider audiences.

Neil King