Froots
June 2008

Here on album number three, Emily’s come a long way from when, as accordionist, pianist and singer, she won the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award back in 2002. After her predictably-full-of-promise debut, the follow up (A Different Life) signalled a shift in her development, increasingly as a writer of compelling original songs. Too Long Away moves things even further, now removing instrumental sets from the recorded menu entirely and instead managing a delicate balancing act between songs self-penned and those taken from traditional sources (five of each).

Emily achieves musical unity not only with her consistently please singing but also with a permanent backing band that’s a skilful and outstandingly sympathetic support unit. Jamie McClennan (fiddle), Ross Milligan (guitar, banjo) and Duncan Lyall (double bass) convincingly ply gentler, understated instrumental brushstrokes rather than unduly dazzling the ear, while the additional contributions of Luke Plumb (mandolin) and Alyn Cosker (drums) are impressively minimal and unobtrusive. Refreshingly too, her own piano accompaniments are deft and economical, avoiding flooding the ether with ubiquitous full-blown chordal washes.
Emily’s singing voice is very attractive in timbre and perfectly natural in its expression, with an approach to phrasing that’s mature beyond her years (she’s till only in her mid-twenties). This time round I was keenly aware of the full-toned and lifting qualities of her voice, a combination that, along with her soft Scottish accent, quite uncannily recalled Karine Polwart (not in any imitative sense – more like a subconscious parallel universe).
Emily also displays a comparable gift for writing enchanting, memorable melodies that really suit her lyrics. The wistful, comforting and tenderly reflective Come Home Pretty Bird is a good example: like her other compositions it’s directly inspired by her emotional reactions to places encountered on her solitary walks (Winter Song and Audience of Souls, both standout tracks) or historical figures from her locality (Old Mortality). The Dumfries region also provides the source for some of the disc’s traditional songs, e.g. the mesmeric Mermaid of Galloway, this contrasts with an altogether funkier setting employed for the ballad of May Colven, while the lesser-known Burns song As I was a Wand’ring receives an exemplary, beautifully expressive treatment from Emily.
This is an inspired and persuasive record, likely to propel Emily into the mainstream of folk acceptance without compromising her artistic integrity.
David Kidman