Emily Barker - Dear River

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Excetionally good

I think this is quite remarkably good. I hadn't heard Emily Barker before and I've plainly been missing out. This is an album of exceptionally thoughtful, atmospheric and musically fine songs with very good, original lyrics.

It's hard to categorize the style of this album (which is probably a good thing) but it has a sort of Americana feel but to me has a very English sound (Anglicana, perhaps?) - from an Australian artist, of course. The instrumentation of The Red Clay Halo is varied but is basically accordion, cello and viola with variations, and it gives a very distinctive sound which sets off Barker's songs perfectly. Her voice is very haunting and she can really put over a song, and the standard of musicianship throughout is consistently excellent. The production is great and the overall effect is a deeply involving, personal album which I find quite spellbinding.

The Limited Edition of Dear River includes a second version of the album consisting of acoustic demos. Usually I find such bonus material weak at best, but here it makes a terrific album itself. The stripped down versions of these songs, all apparently recorded in one day, are really good and in my view are well worth having.

I warmly recommend this album - I think it's something rather special.