Track Listing:
1. Go From My Window
2. Don't Be Cruel
3. House Carpenter
4. Hey Joe
5. The Fisherboy
6. Blackwater Side
7. A Sailing Song
8. Old Flames
9. My Sweet William
10. Stars And Trees
11. Me, I Prefer The Moon
Square Peg Records
English Country Garden
Jenny McCormick
'English Country Garden' has been released on Jenny's own Square Peg Records after being recorded at home. Her family have been behind her all the way most significantly her father who's handily a skilled multi-instrumentalist. That's one hard working Mancunian household. Jenny says the Manchester scene has a 'big community feel' that is both 'eclectic and intelligent.' She's certainly been getting her own slice of the action recently supporting Nina Nastasia, Jim White and Alasdair Roberts.
The trad opener 'Go From My Window' is stripped to the bone to reveal it's beating heart.There's imaginative backing here and throughout from Kevin her father on mandolin, harmonica. Later he provides some beautifully wavering electric guitar lines. Other friends double bass, banjo and percussion playing bring a certain momentum. Jenny's voice though is given plenty of elbow room to operate in. With this approach the characters in 'House Carpenter' and 'Blackwater Side' are also vividly brought to life.
A recent review compared her closely to Kate Rusby. For me this doesn't really ring true. Jenny's voice is more unorthodox, almost otherwordly when first heard. The music is also more global drawing on a variety of influences. Her delivery is sensitive and breathy but not fragile. Possibly tender in the way Bjork can be but forthright enough to carry the emotional sentiment of a song.
Her own numbers match and mingle well with the more trad fare. There's plenty of ruminations on love and loss and it's many guises. We're fully aware of the urgency of the plea in 'Don't Be Cruel' ( I only said i loved you because i thought you loved me too. So Please don't run away and don't be cruel.) A meeting with a past love in 'Old Flames' only brings more turmoil (I'll fill somebody's day with rain. But never yours again because you are my old flame.)
The protagonists of the seafaring senarios don't discover much peace of mind either. Jenny switches between guitar and melodica to set the scenes of sand and water reeling through our minds in 'The Fisherboy'. A more jaunty pace is set for 'A Sailing Song' but again the outcome isn't sugar-coated ( If you were made for me my darling. How can you sail away?)
Jenny proves her prowess with the pen again and again drawing influences from poets and novelists. For me the sad couplets of 'Me, I Prefer The Moon' are the pinnacle. She explains,
'I've always been obsessed with the poetry of Catullus. That might sound really strange but that kind of latin poetry is really similar and it's very personal but very colloquial at the same time. I also love Herman Hesse and Ben Okri.'
What's exciting here is the arrival of a new young writer who's full of potential and finding her feet very quickly. With 'English Country Garden' Jenny's already set herself a high standard. She's a true artist bringing refreshing new perspectives to the folk form.
David Kushar