mon 02/12/2024

CD: Emily Barker & the Red Clay Halo - Dear River | reviews, news & interviews

CD: Emily Barker & the Red Clay Halo - Dear River

CD: Emily Barker & the Red Clay Halo - Dear River

Personal meets political on Australian songwriter's immersive fourth album

'Dear River' is a carefully curated statement of artistic intent

Every so often, an album comes along that reminds you why you love the medium: not because it’s a simple collection of individual songs, no matter how good they are, but because it’s a carefully curated statement of artistic intent. Taken individually Emily Barker’s clear voice and pretty melodies are pleasant enough, but what sets her fourth album apart is its immersive flow.

It’s there right from the album’s seductive opening notes: Barker, close to unaccompanied, intoning the album’s title and opening words; crooning and cajoling the “dear river” to lead her away from her Australian homeland on her first adventure. It’s there in the scheduling genius that lets simpler songs like “The Leaving” and “Sleeping Horses” pick up the slack after the lusher, more complex arrangements of “Letters” and “Everywhen”, and it’s there in the album’s sweet closing serenade to that same Blackwood River.

Of course there is a reason that the work is not presented simply as a solo one. The Red Clay Halo’s arrangements fill songs like “Letters” with grandeur, majesty and rich harmonies; turn “Tuesday” into a slice of string-laden, frantic Americana - with a political conscience, assuming you can pull yourself from its insistent melody to listen to the lyrics - and make “Everywhen” into the album’s big rocker centrepiece. Lyrically, the album explores the theme of home - what it means to leave, what it means to come back, and, on the second half in particular, what it means to be forced out. Barker’s harmonica and Gill Sandell’s accordion combine to give “Ghost Narrative” a haunted, mythic feel, while the sparse arrangement and jarring rhythm of “A Spadeful of Ground” belie the violence of lyrics that set out some of the more shameful parts of Australia’s history.

Barker’s work is likely not unfamiliar to theartsdesk readers: she performed adaptations of her songs as the themes to Wallander and The Shadow Line, and the band appeared with Frank Turner during the Olympics opening ceremony. On the strength of Dear River, her name deserves to become just as familiar.

Listen to title track "Dear River"


Add comment

The future of Arts Journalism

 

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters