Helen Boulding - The Innocents

  by Lisa Torem

published: 9 / 7 / 2012

Label: Maid in Sheffield
Format: CDS

intro

Effective first single from her second album for critically acclaimed Sheffield-based singer-songwriter, Helen Boulding

Helen Boulding’s siblings chose to be football and tennis pros, but at 17 the UK singer/songwriter forged her own path, and it was lucky for the industry that she did. It’s also not entirely surprising that she developed her muse as she hails from a musical family, and was surrounded from an early age by an extensive vinyl collection tucked not too far away in her bedroom’s attic. A natural performer, Boulding began performing at pubs and co-writing as a teen. She co-wrote the 911 song, ‘The Day We Found Love,’ and wrote for Alex Parks and DJ Schiller as well. Her debut 'New Red Dress' was released in the winter of 2008. As the word spread of her compositional talent, she began to co-write with Phil Thorhalley (The Cure) and Youth (Killing Joke). Her new album 'Calling All Angels' contains the single, ‘The Innocents.’ I have not heard the entire album, yet, just this one track, but I can honestly say that Helen’s goal of showing us “the child in everyone” through this medium has been achieved. The lyrics are fresh, the vocals are clean, soulful, evocative, and, yes, “innocent” and the arrangement is polished to a sheen, but not overly shellacked. All the tracks were co-written by Helen and colleague Pete Glenister, who also served as producer. The album appears courtesy of her own label, Maid in Sheffield. Songwriters like Joni Mitchell apparently inspired Boulding, but I don’t particularly hear a connection between her vocal style and any artist of the past or present. She’s entirely her own lady.

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