The Last Star
Navigator Records: Navigator043
Heidi Talbot’s latest album The Last Star produced by her
partner John McCusker is very much a collaborative work.
Multi-instrumentalist McCusker gets a musical credit on every
track and has written the music for the seven of the eleven
tracks that are not traditional.
Heidi has a light yet confident and wellcommanded
voice, which may be familiar to
many. On songs such as the well-known Willy
Taylor, which opens the album, she employs
sparse ornamentation and a beguiling hint of a
Yorkshire accent. It’s a considered arrangement
of this popular song, though a version of it with
which I am unfamiliar.
The musical arrangement becomes a little more
progressive in the following track, Tell Me Truly,
written by her and McCusker. With more unusual
percussion and a jazzier feel, one gets a sense
that this is an album full of twists and turns of style
and source.
This is undoubtedly a well-polished album
including the traditional material that many of the
good readers of this upstanding publication are
seeking, but enhanced by some fine new songs
and inventive yet masterful arrangements.
Heidi’s time spent in on either side of the Pond
is evidenced in her mid-Atlantic singing style but
more so in her diverse choice of songs on this
album, the highlight for me being Bantry Girls. A
soulful interpretation of this Irish lament for an
emigrant, the poetry of this song (probably from
my native Wexford) is very powerful and
beautifully put across in this recording and Heidi’s
delicate voice encapsulates the sentiment very
suitably.
Indeed, Heidi’s respect within the echelons of the
folk scene is proven in the fine musicians she has
called upon to contribute to this album: Mike
McGoldrick, Alan Kelly, Eddi Reader to mention
but a few. The album left me longing for more but
particularly for more back story on the songs as
the inlay has only lyrics and no notes to put the
songs in context, but that probably isn’t a concern
for the target audience. This album will
undoubtedly bring old songs to a new audience
and new interpretations to those familiar with the
songs from the tradition. James McDonald - Review published in Folk London - December 2010
