In a 15 year career, Eliza Carthy has worked with the likes of Paul
Weller, Joan Baez and Nick Cave. The daughter of folk legends Norma
Waterson and Martin Carthy, she's undoubtedly a folk superstar � with
seven BBC Folk Awards under her belt already. But she's twice been
nominated for the Mercury Music Prize without winning, and has never
quite achieved mainstream success.
'Dreams of Breathing Underwater' might win her that missing Mercury
Prize, and might just see her crack the mainstream too.
It's a staggering work � easily the best in her long career.
It starts
with a dirty, electric blues guitar line that's shorthand (since Bob
Dylan's legendary electric concerts) for 'I'm more than just a folk
musician'.
It continues to break the rules, but there are a handful of fairly
straight folk numbers. 'Two Tears' is a gentle acoustic number, but even
this is full of big flourishes and dramatic soundscapes. 'Rosalie' is a
standout, a swaying folk song with an epic chorus and a dirty lyric,
'never accused of good poise, she loved drinking beer with the boys'.
Drink, it has to be said, is a recurring theme here.
Placed at the start of the second half of the album,'Mr Magnifico' is
the centrepiece of 'Dreams of Breathing Underwater'. Starting with a
laid-back, salsa-ish beat it's a spoken word piece, about the eponymous
hero and � again - his love of the finer things in life. It reaches a
magnificent conclusion and it's from here on that the album really flies.
'Little Bigman' is a swaggering sea-shanty, 'Hug You Like A Mountain' is
almost lo-fi electronica with an anthemic chorus, and 'Oranges and
Seasalt' a big-band showtune to bring the album to an end. It's another
drinking song, about 'drinking hopeless drinks at hopeless times'.
It's only when it's ended that you realise just how good this album is,
and that you've just enjoyed a classic album like The Small Faces
'Ogdens Nut Gone Flake' or The Kinks 'Village Green Preservation
Society'. Eliza Carthy has finally lived up to her promise, and recorded
a great English album.
Originally written for the Revolutionary Music column in the Weekend
Guardian, published every Friday and available from shops and cafes
across West Sussex.
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