A couple of excellent new albums to tip you off to today. Neither album is actually out yet, but the first singles from each are, and we have the videos for them below.
First up is Natalie Jane Hill's "Solely" which comes out in late October. Natalie is from Austin by way of the Blue Ridge Mountains and she has made a gorgeous little record, with a sound that sets off her voice and songs perfectly.
The nice man who sent the album to me compares her to early The Weather Station, but when I listen I hear something more like Jessica Pratt's first couple of records.
While you are waiting for "Solely" to become available, you can pick up "Azalea" - Natalie's first album - for a mere $7 on Bandcamp.
The second album to plug is called "Voices From The Empty Moor" which reworks songs performed by the great English folk singer Anne Briggs. The project is masterminded by bassist and arranger Devin Hoff and features a number of guests including Julia Holter and Sharon Van Etten. There is a ghostly, atmospheric feel that suits the songs very well.
The Julia Holter track is featured in the video below, the Sharon Van Etten track is on the free CD given away with the latest Uncut. Pick of the bunch for me is Shannon Lay's version of "Living By the Water", but you'll have to wait until the album comes out on 21 September to hear that. You can preorder it on Bandcamp now though.
In the meantime here is Anne Briggs' original version and a track from Shannon's excellent 2017 album called - no coincidence surely? - "Living Water". You can get that on Bandcamp too.
"Living By The Water" - Anne Briggs
"Caterpillar" - Shannon Lay
Dropped by for some hot Friday night action and well..... that vid accompanying the Julia Holter track is something else - cld be an outtake of anything from Eisenstein to The Wicker Man to Ingmar Bergman. Will watch it through again sometime. Great to see Jenny Conlee too which reminds me we need some more Decemberists stuff. I like several of Anne Briggs songs despite sometimes finding her quite difficult to listen to at times - does that make sense?
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