Emma Black
Album: Swimming In The Moon
Label: Cornflower
Tracks: 13
Website: http://www.emmablack.com

First of all a quick apology to Emma Black, somehow this cd ended up in the wrong pile in the study and consequently hasn't been reviewed as early as it should have been. On, finally, giving it a listen, it rapidly became obvious that that was my loss as well as Emma's.

The female singer/songwriter arena is a pretty crowded market, particularly where it overlaps the Americana/country area, consequently there's a very high standard in that ball park and an album has to be right on its game and "Swimming In The Moon" definitely is.

With the public perception of a failing democratic process, maybe this is the time for the protest song to really comeback to the fore, if it is then "Florence" is up there with the likes of Phil Ochs as Black contrasts the death of an elderly lady, Florence, with the obscene amounts of cash thrown at Iraq, Afghanistan and bankers.

That's not to say that this is inherently a political album, it's not, this is more an album of life and its environs and those environs definitely include the greed and lies that Emma and countless others continue to have fed to them by a compliant media. We're all in this together, well unless you're one of the beneficiaries of all those bailouts and tax incentives for the top 10%, the same people calling for less bank holidays and longer hours. "Lies They've Sold" sums it up well.

Away from the big p politics, there's the little p of personal relationships, both the good and the bad, often in the same song. "Jack & Sally" is a powerful song about an abuse survivor, rebuilding her life. It pulls no punches, but I feel that it dodged the difficult issue by having Sally freed from her personal hell by accident rather than design. If it's a true life song maybe not so much an issue and, in all honesty, just as likely.

Despite if how I've made it sound so far, this is not a depressing album, not by a long shot. The arrangements are bright, interspersed soaring flute, weaves a degree of magic around the more conventional array of guitars and fiddles, giving the album a delightfully up tempo feel.

Emma Black an artist capable of creating quite an impression. She has a real empathy with her subject matter and that always leads to strong songs. "Falling" is one that goes over well worn ground, but the way Emma performs it, you feel like you want to put your arm around her, give her a cup of tea and tell her everything's gonna be alright.

As you can probably tell I liked this one a lot, it's bright, but not over polished, and like most bright objects, it's good at reflecting what goes into it and in Emma's case, that's quite a lot.

Neil King