GILLIAN WELCH – THE HARROW & THE HARVEST

GILLIAN WELCH – THE HARROW & THE HARVEST

Let the battles begin! Eight years in the making (six of them frustrating and ultimately unproductive by Gillian Welch’s own admission) we now finally have something for the fans and critics to pick and fight over. Does it live up to the impossible expectations? Is it as good as? Could it? Should it? The Harrow & The Harvest is an intimate album, rarely rising above a whisper, just two voices and a guitar, recorded in their own studio, a couple in all ways. Hailed by some as a new American folk, it owes a debt to both Americana and Brit folk, the excellent opening track Scarlet Town leaning heavily towards the later. The strength here is in the simplicity – Welch’s voice is always a focal point, but the way that Dave Rawling’s can wrap his voice around hers, cocoon like, is often under-rated; and his guitar work here is exquisite – tip-toeing, and caressing his way around the fret-baord much like a tight rope walker, we listen with baited breath, can he really continue to place those notes so perfectly? Surely he will falter and fall, yet as each song ends we release our breath in both relief and delight at the perfect performance. The Way It Goes, Six White Horses and Silver Dagger are all highlights.  If there is a fault here it is the execution can at times be a little too perfect, Welch occasionally disconnected from her own songs, we all like a little human frailty to creep in. Either way, there will be few who could bring themselves to be disappointed here.

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