Eliza Carthy discography

You can see why this girl is a winner of 2 mercury prize nominations, her voice is typical folk but with a gutsy blues edge that is so unique. It shows through really strong on songs like Like I Care and Simple Things, for me Rosalie is the stand out song on the album. This album is a cracker 11 songs that will melt your heart! This girl is going to dominate our folk scene for years to come.

A real surprise this and no traditional tracks at all. Eleven highly individual and diverse songs all written by Eliza and all of the highest quality featuring a real who’s who of folk music. Stand out song for me was "Oranges and Seasalt" featuring elements of the music hall and clear influences of Mum Norma. The songs come direct from the heart and this marks a clear progression a new maturity in her career. Can’t wait for the next album.

Hitting the pure traditionalists as something of a shock comes the inventive new album from ‘Queen of Folk‘, Eliza Carthy, “Dreams of Breathing Underwater”.

From the opening blues-inspired ‘Follow the Dollar’, to a Latin-American spin on Mr Magnifico, an almost barber-shop influence on the more folkie “Little Bigman” and finally to the fun and fruity finale of ‘Oranges and Seasalt’, this is an album which clearly gives your ears a taste of the vast amount of cultures Eliza has clearly absorbed so well during her many years as a successful folk artist. Though the only real noticeable traditional elements besides Carthy’s rich voice are the occasional appearances of a fiddle and melodeon or two, it would be dishonest to say that this album is not a remarkable achievement, pushing boundaries to give a delightful listening experience to all willing to give it a chance.

This is a record which demonstrates not only a vast musical maturity in Carthy’s songwriting, but one which proves that good music need not be restricted by tight genre boundaries.

Eliza Carthy’s new album sees her entering into new territory. It is hard to categorise. It is and it isn’t folk. Her fiddle playing and her voice that is often reminiscent of her mother Norma Waterson are still there but she gives the mostly original songs on this album a variety of musical settings. What it brings to mind is the music of the sadly missed Kirsty MacColl. Eliza has the same sense of musical adventurousness and shares the same lyrical concerns. She sings of life and relationships in a similarly honest and sometimes funny way. It’s a fairly challenging album but one that will reward you after a few listens.

Mariachi trumpets, barbershop harmonies, Music Hall! Not what I was expecting from a folk album. By putting these and other musical styles in to the melting pot then adding some really fun and playful lyrics you can really sense that Eliza Carthy enjoyed making this album. Most of the tracks are really uplifting but there are a couple of darker tracks. I am fairly new to the modern folk scene and this album really makes me want to dig even deeper in to the genre.

My sister-in-law in her wisdom as a classically trained musician and singer has pointed out that the few tracks she listened to in the car were "a musical mess and some of the notes being sung were a little flat". She has pink hair and listens to James Blunt a lot, so I think we can safely ignore her ramblings and enjoy this excellent album.

With previous CD release Rough Music firmly established as a personal favourite, and realising that Dreams of Breathing Underwater marked a change of direction towards an emphasis on Eliza’s self-penned material last found on 2000’s rather underwhelming Angels and Cigarettes, I must confess that I approached this new collection with a little trepidation. Initial plays did little to dispel my doubts; whilst the more traditional sounding songs such as the wonderful Little Bigman (featuring a full bag of Ratcatchers) and the Tom Waits inspired Two Tears were early stand-outs, the proliferation of styles and arrangements used on the other tracks made it difficult to get a handle upon the album as a whole.

However, repeated listening has proved hugely rewarding as the other tracks reveal their depths. Personal highlights include the terrific Rosalie, the trad-with-a-twist Lavenders, and perhaps most startlingly, Mr Magnifico, a morality tale narrated by Tim Matthew over a glorious Latin brass riff and Eliza’s angel of judgement chorus. There is originality and wit present here in abundance.

Throughout the arrangements and production are of the highest standard, with some lovely vocal harmonies, rumbling double bass, sassy brass, and of course the gloriously rich and sonorous voice of Ms Carthy sounding as good as it ever has. A thoroughly enjoyable, if not particularly cohesive, outing for one of the trailblazers of the new English folk revival.

Dictated by M (aged 10) and P (aged 6) to Mummy who kindly agreed to do the typing.

P - My favourite song is ’Oranges and Sea-salt’ mostly because I like oranges but also because she has just the right voice for this sort of swingy song.

M - I thought it was Oranges and See-saws? Oh. I’ve been singing the wrong words.

P - Me too, until I heard Mummy singing it in the kitchen. The lady is not very clear about it really - it does sound like ’See-saws’. *

We like singing along to Little Bigman - it has a really good chorus and a good tune, especially the ’Bo - Bo- De- Do- Bo- Bom’ bits.

M - Actually I think Mr Magnifico might be my favourite, it has someone called Magnifico in it and a really good sing along chorus. The music is quite Italian sounding. And ’Follow the Dollar’ sounds a bit like cowboy-ish.

P - I like the violin** in ’Lavenders’ and the wobbly noises in ’Simple Things’. I wonder how she makes those wobbly noises, they are really good.

We think this is a really good album, but not quite as good as Burlesque by Bellowhead.

* NB Mummy’s note: It transpires that ’Oranges and See-Saws’ was thought quite a nice idea for a song as eating oranges and playing on see-saws was fun. Mummy pointed out that the next line was ’don’t go together’ M explained that this could be overcome by changing the subject of the song to the colour of the see-saw, as most see-saws are green.

** Cello.