Full Review

Bella Hardy – Night Visiting

Although ‘Night Visiting’ is Bella’s debut solo album, her name may be known to some as she was a member of ‘The Pack’ (a group that got together at the Folkworks Summer School), and she was involved in the BBC Young Folk Awards in 2004 as both a singer and a fiddle player.
But as a new name to many, the first thing that hits you is the quality of Bella’s voice; the opener ‘Three Black Feathers’ is the perfect showcase for her arresting vocals that are both beautifully clear and smooth.
The 11 songs are a mixture of trad arrs and her own pieces, and the balance is excellent with her own songs sitting effortlessly with the older pieces.
Her time at Folkworks and the BBC involvement has brought her a great network of folk musicians, and the album features some of the very best young instrumentalists in the country including Hannah James, Ian Stephenson, Joey Oliver, Corrina Hewat and Emily & Hazel Askew. While the assembled musicians provide some excellent backing the focus is definitely on Bella’s vocals and fiddle.
’Night Visiting’ is an album that sits together well as a sequence of songs, but stand outs include the self penned ‘Three Black Feathers’, the beautiful playing and vocals on ‘Dog & Gun’, and stunning vocal display (and recording) of ‘Molly Vaughan’.

This is an excellent English folk disc from one of the brightest young talents in the UK; her mesmerising vocals and fiddle playing are exceptional, and as a debut album it’s one of the most striking in recent memory.