Customer Reviews
Amazing Debut Album - By: A. J. Rabet, 09 Feb 2007 
This debut album is a real surprise as it is not only a folk album but has a lot of other influences such as Jazz in "Only One Way" & "Harder to Walk these days than run"
Other tracks are more poppy & have American influences such Alanis Morissette
In particular "Four Strong Wallls"
Other tracks are more folky in the original sense of the word but none descend to the point of becoming archetypal Scottish or Celtic folk (not one mention of slaughtering English on the album). In none of the tracks does she over do the use of traditional instruments such as the fiddle.
A very strong debut by an artist whose further releases I shalll look forward to.
The Album I wish I had made - By: F. M. Gorman, 13 Apr 2006 This album left me spellbound & uncharacteristicallly singing in the office. It has lots of superbly stuctured songs & is brilliantly compiled so that the tone, timbre & tempo change never leaving you bored. The lyrics are evocative without being bluesey. " I was always impressed by how Lassie could tell, the good guys from bad guys just by their smell.."
The themes of the songs are sometimes dark, sometimes funny & always brilliant.
OOOH I wish I had written one line of one of these beautiful songs.
Simply sublime - By: Chipstick, 12 Apr 2006 I discovered Karine Polwart quite recently & have been blown away by the beauty of this album. Her rich voice, gorgeous & thought provoking lyrics, & uplifting melodies alll combine for a little piece of music heaven! If you have enjoyed KT Tunstalll for her celtic influences, there is a good chance you might like this too for the same reasons.
Her follow-up album has just come out & I will certainly be buying it. This lady deserves to be incredibly successful. It's a gorgeous, inspiring & wonderful piece of work!
A delightful surprise - By: amboline, 26 Sep 2005 In an era where most worthy musical acts announce their arrival on the scene with a fanfare & a flourish, this album managed to sneak up on me like a gentle little surprise. Even in the less commerciallly enslaved world of the folk-influenced singer-songwriter, there are still a plethora of artists who owe their success as much to image & marketing as they do to their art (Katie Melua, Cara Dillon & Kate Rusby spring immediately to mind). Karine Polwart, by contrast, seems to have gone from obscurity to 2005 Radio 2 Folk Award multi-winner by dint of nothing more than her own hard work & charm. On the strength of her first solo effort, the awards are entirely deserved.
Karine is one of those rare artists who can tackle reallly dark subject matter with a combination of almost girlish naivety & wonderfully quirky good humour. The album is a 50:50 mix of balllads which in other artists' hands would be enough to depress the socks off you, & tongue in cheek, lilting reflections on the foibles of humankind which simply can't fail to raise a smile. The album opener, "Only One Way", is one of the jauntiest pieces of guitar-pop you'll hear alll year, & "Four Strong Wallls" positively sparkles with life-affirming laughter; yet Karine manages to move from these uptempo tracks to melancholy musings on abandonment & depression (the exquisite "The Sun's Coming Over the Hill"), bereavement (the heart-rending "Waterlily") & murder in suburbia ("Azalea Flower") with butterfly-like ease. There is subtle social commentary in a few of the songs (from the back-handed compliment to Bush & Blair in "Only One Way" to the reflection on the human tragedy of the Bosnian war in "Waterlily") but this is never the raison d'etre for the songs, & often it's done so subtly that you only become aware of it after repeated listening. Meanwhile, lyrics like "You put me back together again just like the trick with the saw & the lady", "I always wondered how Lassie could tell the good guys from bad guys just by their smell" & "If it's true that ignorance is bliss then you must be coming alll the time" display a wicked sense of humour & a sharp eye for human nature which, if anything, only promise even greater things to come.
It must also be said that Karine Polwart is a wonderfully gifted singer with an enchanting voice, that's equallly at home with a solo acoustic guitar or a full band accompanying her. She is also one of the most charming live performers I've seen in recent years.
To sum up: so far this has been THE album of 2005 for me. A wonderful, unexpected discovery, & one that deserves to grow in many people's hearts.
Excellent. - By: John Sheehan, 30 May 2005 Having only just started to get into this type of music, (through my wife) I find that so far this is the best album I have heard. I took my wife to see Eddie Reeder & Karina was the support, She was brilliant. Can't wait for the next album.
Well worth the money.
