Nugent & Belle
Album: Seeing Stars
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.nugentandbelle.com

When I received this album of Sleeping Stars by Nugent &Belle, I have to admit (though it is wrong of me to do so) I judged the album by its cover. Though it was a good reaction towards the cover, I immediately thought of the Allendale duo The Unthanks however when I listened to it I was totally wrong.

Nugent & Belle have that easy listening/ country western vibe going on that is quite comforting to the ear. Yes thanks to Fatea I am a strong lover of folk music and I can say with confidence that I shall be putting this album onto my ipod. Where you will most likely find the most songs played from this album will be True North and Seeing Stars, though Little Bird will not be far behind them.

Those two songs remind me of home and take my back to my routes, although I may have the wrong end of the stick with the messages and themes of both songs they still remind me of the North East. I think its these lyrics that do it for me:

All at once every road that I travel on leads to you, every corner I turn you are standing on grace out of the blue.

This to me makes me think that no matter how stressful life is or whenever I get lost in myself, I just need to think of home and where my heart is and everything shall be alright. It's like travelling towards the A1 onwards to home and you only know you are home when you can see the Angel Of The North. North East readers will understand what I mean and anybody else look it up -http://www.angelofthenorth.org.uk/.

Now it is only fair that I talk about it as I did mention Little Bird (don't worry I will get back to Seeing Stars) those of you have not fallen asleep yet and well done to those of you who are still interesting in what I have to see about this pair. Little Bird is rather catchy, with strong vocals and melody this song will be stuck in my head for a long time. I can imagine myself walking to uni while listening to this; it's a feel good song that is sure to make your day on a good path. As for Seeing Stars, this song I love. It was released in March last year in 2013 and I believe it is going to be one of those songs that will be a timeless classic within the folk industry.

A little disappointed that there are only 11 tracks on the album, I would have liked to hear more of them. Yet I can only wait and see what is to come of them in 2014, fingers crossed a tour to the North East.

Gemma Hirst