The bittersweet, cascading harmonies of “The Good Years” sets the tone for Karine Polwart’s new album This Earthly Spell (Hegri04). And it’s been a good year indeed for The Scottish Borders based singer, who gave birth to her first child in 2007, and still managed to record enough material for not one but two new albums on her own label imprint Hegri Music.
Following the fireside intimacy of Scottish traditional collection Fairest Floo’er (Hegri03, Dec 2007), This Earthly Spell reinforces Polwart’s reputation as a humane and perceptive songwriter who draws on indie and roots influences as much as folk traditions.
The chiming opening track, a gorgeous vocal setting of a lyric by eminent Scots poet Edwin Morgan, gives way to the steely, swampy “Sorry”, whilst the delightful jazz inflected whimsy of “The News” contrasts the anti-nuclear political bite of “Better Things” and the incisive “Painted It White”.
Unsurprisingly, for a new mum, three songs deal with motherhood. The poignant understatement of “Firethief”, which Polwart wrote originally for HIV/AIDS documentary “The Enemy That Lives Within”, one of BBC Radio 2’s Radio Ballads, unravels a mother’s loss; whilst she wrote the tender and delicate “Rivers Run” for her own son.
But it’s the eerie and atmospheric parable “Tongue That Cannot Lie” that, most of all, betrays Polwart’s background as a former philosophy teacher, and her ongoing fascination with moral ambivalence. Inspired by the supernatural legend surrounding thirteenth century Scottish Borders poet and prophet Thomas The Rhymer, it also distinguishes her as an ambitious and captivating storyteller.
Most of the album was recorded just a few miles away from her Borders home at the beautiful Heriot-Toun visual arts studio which she and her live band, with producer Calum Malcolm, transformed into a unique and intimate recording environment. But despite the rural influences, there’s nothing escapist or sentimental about this collection of songs.
It’s three years since Polwart scooped a trio of BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, including “Best Album” for her debut Faultlines and “Best Original Song”, an accolade she won for a second time in 2007. In the meantime, she’s released two further solo albums, Scribbled in Chalk and Fairest Floo’er, and collaborated with the likes of Roddy Woomble and cult Glasgow indie outfit Future Pilot AKA. And she shows no sign of slowing down:
“More and more I feel like an album captures just a wee slice of time. I’m already working on new ideas and will be making new songs available through my website on a monthly basis this year for people who’re interested. I think it’s more and more important now for songwriters like me to offer something more than just a static piece of work.”
