Kate Rusby - Light Years

by Zena Grieg

published: 19 / 1 / 2024

Label: Pure Records
Format: CD

Eclectic combination of traditional carols and original compositions on seventh Christmas album from folk artist Kate Rusby

Review

With the release of her seventh Christmas album, Folk Award-winning, Mercury Prize-nominated singer-songwriter Kate Rusby, the ‘Barnsley Nightingale’, celebrates thirty years in the music business. ‘Light Years’, the latest of her regular Christmas releases, is an eclectic mix of traditional carols interspersed with reflective original compositions. Throughout, Rusby’s guitar is augmented by electronic and brass band accompaniment, a record depicting “joyful memories of music, family, community, warmth and happiness – and a little wine!” Songs to listen out for in this eleven-track collection include: the upbeat opener ‘Spean’ with Moog, electric guitar and bell ringing refrain, a re-imagining of a traditional hymn from 1811, ‘Brightest And Best’; the anthemic single ‘Glorious’ visualizing an angel with a broken wing in her garden, needing love, healing and redemption; ‘Rusby Shepherds’, a lively take on ‘When Shepherds Watched’, with its jaunty brass band and layered banjo; a spellbinding, harmonious collaboration with American blue-grass legend Alison Krauss and singer-songwriter Ron Block on banjo on ‘The Moon Shines Bright’; the brass-propelled ‘Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree/Sleigh Ride’; ‘Arrest These Merry Gentlemen’, a jocular spin on ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ and a catchy, striking interpretation of Chris de Burgh’s ‘A Spaceman Came Travelling’; plus the minimalist low-key closer ‘Joseph’. A mellow balance of the traditional and the contemporary, ‘Light Years’ consolidates the continuing appeal of this endearing musician.

Track Listing:-

1 Spean
2 Glorious
3 It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
4 Rusby Shephards
5 The Moon Shines Bright (feat. Alison Krauss & Ron Block)
6 Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree/ Sleigh Ride
7 Nowell, Nowell
8 Arrest These Merry Gentlemen
9 A Spaceman Came Travelling
10 Nothin' For Christmas
11 Joseph