STEVE JOHNSON relishes a celebration of the commonality of folk music and its links with the struggles of working people the world over
Hopeless romanticism as old as the hills
IAN SINCLAIR reviews albums by HC McEntire, A Grave With No Name, and Ghost Music
This thriller is a politically charged and morally complex dive into climate activism and police repression, judges JENNY FARRELL
Cat show killer, avenging the pawns, women hunt the Ripper, and running dry in the outback
The Bard reflects on sharing a bed, and why he wont go to Chelsea
MARY CONWAY applauds a new play that foresees the unscrupulous tactics of a future far-right minority government
RON JACOBS is moved to tears by an eloquent journal of heartfelt intensity and human portraiture
ROBERT OVETZ recommends a case study, from the University of Leicester, in their struggle against precarization, AI, privatisation, outsourcing, and work intensification in higher education
HC McEntire
Lionheart
(Merge Records)
★★★★
THE DEBUT solo album from the frontwoman of Mount Moriah, Lionheart is inspired by the American South, the Bible and the desire to challenge the hetero-normative ideology of country music.
HC McEntire recorded the songs at home in North Carolina, with assistance from a bevy of talented musicians including Angel Olsen, Tift Merritt and guitar virtuoso William Tyler. The smouldering romance of opener A Lamb, A Dove sets the tone, with McEntire singing: “I have found heaven/In a woman’s touch/Come to me now/I’ll make you blush.”
Elsewhere, she stirs in gospel, folk, blues and rock. Quartz In The Valley swings along nicely with some great freewheeling piano, with McEntire’s vocals reminiscent of Marianne Faithfull singing The Ballad of Lucy Jordan.
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