Karine Polwart - Traces

  by Lisa Torem

published: 29 / 9 / 2012

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Scotland’s Karine Polwart writes with conviction and fury on her fifth studio album ‘Traces’. And who better to sing these masterpieces than Polwart, herself, with her earthy, yet industrial-strength contralto. Her brother Steven Polwart on guitar and vocals and Inge Thomson on accordion, percussion and vocals join her as well. Polwart adds guitar and Indian harmonium. There are few topics that scare this seasoned performer/songwriter away. She immediately confronts Donald Trump, whose golf development caused uproar in her native North East Scotland, with the ballad ‘Cover Your Eyes.’ As for Trump’s capitalist vision, she counters: “generations of intimate connection to a place doesn’t count in the world of number crunching/But it’s ultimately all there is.” Still her lyrical response is so subtle and embracing and the strings so sweeping and gentle that we’re less engulfed in anger, than charmed by her sensibility, when she states: “I was Farrah Fawcett/You were Steve McQueen/And we rode your silver Grifter half the way from Aberdeen.” ‘Kings of Birds’ rises from the history of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Her warm timbre, perfect pitch and passion fuel this as well as the following stories. ‘Tears for Lot’s Wife,’ is enhanced by boisterous harmonium, which when set against Polwart’s voice, is grave and palpable. Consistently, her earnest imagery cuts to the chase: “To the crimson towers of the city you were born in,” to the brilliant: “You can turn from the brow of the black hills.” The seething treasure, ‘Don’t Worry’, discusses the misguided soldier: “with the weight of the world in his little knapsack/He’s going to need a heart to hold.” We are honoured to be invited into this intimate kingdom, where the hope of freedom awaits. ‘We’re All Leaving’ is also commanding. With lilting strings and lush harmonies, she announces: “The twilight steals the day.” The story concerns Charles Darwin who “walks the wood alone” where these snatches of nature inspire. In another fiery protest she examines a petrochemical plant, “fires of stone and steel” which “steal our dreams from our souls.” The haunting ‘Strange News’ pays tribute to her cousin’s sudden death, by detailing the survivors and their pieced-together post existence: “A mother does what she must/A father comes undone.” ‘Sticks ‘n’ Stones” brings alive an empty home: “footsteps in empty hallways,” “dreams in the rafters” and “hopes in the plasterboards.” Sobering ‘Salter’s Road’ is about surviving the grief of losing her neighbor. But in the final song, ‘Half a Mile,’ initially sung in whispering tones, Polwart goes even deeper by constructing an outer, physical wall of everyday life where “the trucks still roll by” while you experience the “ragged bulrushes,’ a commonplace setting which juxtaposes the tragedy of a murdered schoolgirl. Her dynamics here are especially striking and personal as the timelessness of the surroundings mesh with the dismal outcome, leaving us filled with compassion, but respect for a daring storyteller and mesmerizing vocalist.

Track Listing:-

1 Cover Your Eyes
2 King Of Birds
3 Tears For Lot's Wife
4 Don't Worry
5 We're All Leaving
6 Tinsel Show
7 Strange News
8 Sticks 'n' Stones
9 Salters Road
10 Half A Mile

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/karinepolwart/
http://www.karinepolwart.com/
https://twitter.com/IAMKP
http://karinepolwart.bandcamp.com/

Label Links:-

http://www.propermusic.com/label/Hegri-Music-1696

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