I confess I missed this album when it was relased a few months back but last weeks of her supporting Larkin POe by much respected Guardian music journalist Robin Denselow had me checking it out and suggest you do to.
Georgia Ruth who opened, was even more impressive. She has a pure, thoughtful voice, sounding at times like a contemporary Welsh answer to Sandy Denny, and sat to accompany herself on the harp and then the reed organ, surrounded by a three-piece electric band. She started with a slow self-composed love song, Mapping, followed by the melancholy, harmonica-backed American folk song Old Blue. Then she unleashed her band for the upbeat, chugging Week of Pines, with harp and electric guitar working remarkably well together; before switching direction yet again, with the sturdy and melodic Welsh-language sea shanty, Codi Angor.
On this showing, she's one of the British folk discoveries of the year.
Raised bilingually in Aberystwyth, West Wales, Georgia's haunting voice has earned her favourable comparisons with the melancholy folk sirens of the late 60s. Her unusual fingerpicking style of playing the harp was inspired more by the guitar on Bert Jansch, Meic Stevens and old folk revivalist records than by the classical method she was taught as a child. Yet 'Week of Pines' is not just a tribute to these. Inspired by a recent return to Wales, following time living in Brighton and London, the album represents something of a homecoming trajectory for Georgia. From the motorik drive of the title track, to the darker Eno-like string arrangements, the stark joyfulness of a Welsh sea shanty accompanied by wheezing reed organ, or the more wistful folk ballads: this is a varied and intriguing collection of songs. "Having grown up with dad's Merchant Navy sea stories (he once met Jacques Cousteau onboard the Calypso), a sea shanty was somewhat inevitable". This one, 'Codi Angor', was popular amongst the Welsh sailors in the Liverpool docks and if the album is a homecoming of sorts, this conveys the opposite: the excitement of leaving, of sailing out to sea. 'Dovecote' - with its clanging bells and mists - maintains the theme, but on a more abstract level: this is the leaving of old love. 'Old Blue' is the Appalachian song, included in Harry Smith's anthology, made popular by Joan Baez. 'Winter', with its slow-march rhythm and redemptive lyrics, brings the album to a fitting close. "Week of Pines is a record about joyfulness. And coming home. And reclaiming things presumed gone. And grace, after making mistakes. That element of forgiveness and calm has been integral to this record". The album was recorded and produced by David Wrench over six days last August at Snowdonia's Bryn Derwen studios. Her band features members of acclaimed country-folk outfit Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog and, for the album, includes a very special contribution from Lleuwen Steffan. Georgia regularly plays in ex- Gorky's Zygotic Monkey member Richard James' band and appears alongside him in his new project Pen Pastwn. She will also be appearing on the Guillemots' forthcoming album, having recorded parts for it in the summer of 2012. She has performed at Glastonbury, Green Man Festival, SWN and several other festivals. BBC Radio Wales' Adam Walton described her as "one of the most prodigious talents ever to grace my airwaves".
Review
'...a rare talent, able to transcend borders of language, style and age with apparent ease. At its simplest, Pines reinvigorates folk standards...A dazzling début, rich with sweet pain and joy..' --Andy Gill, The Independent * * * *
'Week Of Pines is an album of many moods...Georgia Ruth has been honing her craft for a few years and hasn't been rushed into making an album before she was ready. You can take it from me that she's ready now.' --Dai Jeffries, R2 Magazine * * * *
'...Gentle melodies and atmospheric percussion, her debut is a mix of sea-shanties and wistful campfire ditties.' --Diva Magazine
having never heard of this girl, we are now very fond. Her new album Week of Pines is as intelligent as it is genuine -- welikethemusic.tumblr.com
Georgia s haunting voice has earned her favourable comparisons with the melancholy folk sirens of the late 60s. Her unusual fingerpicking style of playing the harp was inspired more by the guitar on Bert Jansch, Meic Stevens and old folk revivalist records than by the classical method she was taught as a child -- hangout.altsounds.com
in the solitude of a Snowdonia studio she has melded together a plethora of influences to create an album that has an all pervading sense of calmness
--ameliasmagazine.com
'...Gentle melodies and atmospheric percussion, her debut is a mix of sea-shanties and wistful campfire ditties.' --Diva Magazine
