Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade, Parthenope, Where Dragons Live and Thunderbolts* reviewed by MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE
Album reviews with Ian Sinclair: November 4, 2020
CHRIS SEARLE wallows in an evening of high class improvised jazz, and recommends upcoming highlights in May
MARY CONWAY applauds the revival of a tense, and extremely funny, study of men, money and playing cards
MEHDI ACHOUCHE explores the constant fascination of cinema with Marxist alienation from Fritz Lang and Chaplin to Bong Joon Ho
FIONA O’CONNOR steps warily through a novel that skewers many of the exposed flanks of the over-privileged
MARY CONWAY applauds the study of a dysfunctional family set in an Ireland that could be anywhere
MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
Emily Barker
A Dark Murmuration Of Words
(Thirty Tigers)
★★★
AFTER the Memphis Soul of her previous record, the new solo album – the fourth – from Australian-born, now UK-based singer-songwriter Emily Barker is made up of relatively straightforward folk music.
Recorded in Pembrokeshire with John Freeman as producer, there are many accomplished, Radio 2-friendly songs here. The Woman Who Planted Trees is a welcome tribute to Kenyan eco-human rights activist Wangari Maathai, while the Pete Seeger-inspired Where Have The Sparrows Gone? feels like the set’s centrepiece.
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