It’s easy to see why the prospect of a new studio album from Australian songstress Emily Barker and her band The Red Clay Halo is so tantalising to those who have heard of her. She’s already delivered three superb studio albums and performed with Frank Turner at the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games in London. The thing is, there are still those who doubt her – it can’t be denied folk music has enjoyed a revival of the likes last seen with indie-rock back in 2005, so it would be easy for some to assume that Emily is just another by-product of the occasionally bland British folk scene. However, we’re pleased to reveal that Barker’s fourth effort is a hypnotic melee of skilful songcraft, careful guitars and effortless vocals.
After self-funding her first three LPs it’s about time someone gave Barker a break, and this record is a fantastic showing of what she can do when she has the might of Linn Records behind her. It’s the calm before the storm of a success that seems so inevitable when listening to Emily Barker and The Red Clay Halo; the record is a truly beautiful piece of work that merges selected elements of folk with small fragments of classic rock. These classic rock elements are never more noticeable than on the transfixing Everywhen – the two genres blend together to create a liquefied melancholic experience for the listener and it’s genuinely touching.
In The Winter I Returned is probably the highlight of the album. Barker’s heavily reverberated voice has never sounded quite so moving, and this effect is used sparingly throughout Dear River to create a haunting beauty that genuinely make the listener feel as though they are floating along in a cloud. Opening with Dear River was a stroke of genius; the track sums up the laid-back nature of the album as a whole, and it’s the perfect indicator of what’s to come. Every song has its time to shine – there are no half-arsed efforts on this album, and the end product is a record that’s packed full of the unique sound that Barker and The Red Clay Halo have brought to the world of folk. It’s peaceful, it’s melodic and it’s beautiful – Dear River truly is an album to fall in love with.