Full Review

Karine Polwart – This Earthly Spell

This album completes the brace of discs that straddled 2007 and 2008 – late 2007 saw the beautiful traditional album ‘Fairest Floo’er’ and only 3 months later we have ‘This Earthly Spell’ which is Karine as most people know her, as one of the UK’s finest contemporary folk singer/songwriters.
Recognised with a best original song award from the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards a few years ago, Karine has always been a perceptive and caring songwriter, and the songs here represent a high mark in her career.
She addresses and tackles real emotion and issues in her songs, at times they’re obviously personal (‘Rivers Run’ was written for her son), but her real skill is in making the emotions universal and making a real connection with the listener. This is beautifully illustrated in ‘Firethief’, a song written for the BBC Radio Ballads, it’s a poignant song that deals with HIV/AIDS and unravels the tale of a mother’s loss – it’s a genuinely moving piece with a superbly constructed lyric.

Where ‘Fairest Floo’er’ was an exclusively acoustic album, this collection uses her accomplished touring band, and the sound is fuller and more varied – it’s still a relatively restrained album but the addition of accordion, percussion and double bass on top of acoustic guitars adds dynamics and creates atmosphere.

The final track ‘Tongue That Cannot Lie’ is the highlight of the disc, it’s a eight and a half minute track inspired by the legend of 13^th Century poet and prophet Thomas The Rhymer – it’s an ambitious song that shows her skill as a writer.
‘This Earthly Spell’ is a well balanced and considered disc, it moves from delicate, light songs through to more challenging pieces, the instrumentation is strong throughout, and everything is held together by Karine’s understated, but exceptional vocals. A superb album, and not to be missed.