Bella Gaffney - Heaven Knows

  by Benjamin Howarth

published: 20 / 9 / 2017

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Review

Yorkshire folk singer Bella Gaffney has spent the last few years gigging regularly, both as a solo act and with her band Bric-A-Brac. Most of those shows have been as the local face supporting a better known headline act. Now, with her first set of recordings since 2013, she presents her pitch for more headline sets of her own. 'Heaven Knows' was recorded with Folkstock's in-house producer Lauren Deakin-Davies, something of a prodigy who was running her own studio before she left her teens. Gaffney, herself still in her early twenties, seems to have formed an effective partnership, with these recordings conveying the intimacy of a small gig in a folk club (while leaving space for a few knockout solos from various friends Gaffney has met on the folk club circuit). The album begins with a demonstration of Gaffney's guitar playing, with fingerpicked blues licks and tapped percussion. Yet, while an album of blues standards would have been perfectly acceptable to me, the record then takes us through ballads, jazzy singalongs, folk standards, a John Martyn cover before winding its way to the final track, 'The Blues Train', where we get another guitar workout. There are a number of standout tracks. The opener, and title track, 'Heaven Knows' kicks things off in fine style, with the record's best guitar part and a memorable melody. 'Grandma's House' is a moving story of an elderly Greek woman who adopted a family of Syrian refugees, despite neither being able to understand the other's language. 'Exodus' (the only song not recorded in the sessions with Deakin Davies) breaks the record neatly with a jazz beat and a warm, instantly memorable tune. Gaffney will know as well as anyone that it is a crowded market for folk singers, and her biggest challenge will be getting this reecord heard by enough people in the first place. Provided she can overcome that obstacle, 'Heaven Knows' has more than enough to suggest the arrival of a serious talent. Perhaps its most appealing quality is its unshowiness and quiet confidence. Gaffney is clearly a brilliant guitarist, but doesn't overdo it (she's happy just to strum along when that's all the song needs). As a singer, she comes across as quite a convincing drug addict when covering John Martyn's 'Cocaine', though presumably she isn't one, yet is equally happy on the tender love song 'I am the Tide'. In fact, there isn't a single duff track. No doubt, plenty of people who have seen Gaffney live over the last few years will have been waiting to hear recordings of these songs. They won't be disappointed.

Track Listing:-

1 Heaven Knows
2 The Devil In Me
3 I Am The Tide
4 Grandma's House
5 Cocaine
6 Go Well, Stay Well
7 Exodus
8 First Light Of Dawn
9 After The Fall
10 Gallows Pole
11 Blues Train

Band Links:-

http://www.bellagaffney.co.uk/
https://en-gb.facebook.com/BellaGaffne
https://twitter.com/BellaGaffney
https://folkstockrecords.bandcamp.com/

Label Links:-

http://www.folkstockartsfoundation.com
https://twitter.com/Folkstock
https://www.youtube.com/user/Folkstock
https://plus.google.com/10814977628852
https://www.facebook.com/folkstockreco
http://www.folkstockrecords.com/