tender Review (ft. another English concert)

Image credit: Lady Maisery

Hello lovely peoples! I have quite a quantity of posts that I'm working on, or that are half drafted, or that I've been meaning to write, etcetera etcetera etcetera blah blah blah. So instead of doing any of that, I decided (as a treat to myself, lol) to do a review of Lady Maisery's newest album, to go along with my review of The Longest Johns's newest album. It's eminently appropriate, since I went to a Lady Maisery concert at the beginning of the month (great fun, especially since they're a Sheffield group--I sat next to a couple who'd known Rowan since she was a little girl) and this past weekend I got to participate in one of their Singing Courses! Which was amazing! (Seriously. Incredible. One of my favourite things I've ever done in terms of singing in a group, which is Saying Something.)

I'm a bit worried that all of these reviews and such are Self Indulgent, but since this blog has always been a bit Self Indulgent (see: the Papal Documents linkup, the Catholic Artists series, etcetera, although this is quite a bit less academic, lol) I decided that it couldn't hurt. Plus you probably want a break from travel commentary--I can imagine that's gotten a bit old, despite my attempts to spice it up a bit. 

Anyway! Lady Maisery! Super great folk music group, composed of three Sheffield women, Hazel, Hannah, and Rowan, who sing folk music and things that they themselves have composed. They're fabulous in concert, with really interesting sound and riveting lyrics, plus while none of them are especially boisterous, they're sardonic and sarcastic and ironic and funny between their songs. It was a really laid-back concert that I went to, in a local bar, and I enjoyed every minute. And then they were so cool and kind and incredible on the singing weekend, too! 

Most of the songs that they performed during their concert were from this most recent album, tender, and while it's actually a bit darker than anything they've done before (believe it or not) and most of the songs are originals/not folk songs, I really enjoyed the concert, and have been listening to the album ever since.

Without further ado...on to the album review! (With the same caveat from the TLJ review that this isn't going to be a nerdy review, i.e. some of these songs are originals, and some of them are not, and that's not what the point of the post is, so if you want to know which is which, you can go look it up yourself. ;))

tender
the radio says storms tonight/we look out at the winter/outside the evening presses hard/on ice too slippery to walk
This song beautifully evokes a winter's evening! I love the feeling of being inside a lighted, cozy house when it's dark outside already at 4 pm (this may be an I-live-almost-at-the-very-northernmost-bit-of-the-contiguous-USA thing that not everyone can relate to lol) and that is exactly what this song tries to describe. It's a bit of a melancholy sound, but with a bell-like accompaniment that sounds a bit like ice and snow and raises the whole thing up to be almost cheerful, even while sounding wintry. 
⭐⭐⭐⭐

bird i do not know
sometimes it's quiet as a feather, love/sometimes I fear the wind will lose it, love/oh but still I hear it calling/shut my eyes, hear it calling, love
With the banjo and all, this one feels almost like an American folk song, which makes me happy. It's also just a really beautiful song--hearing a bird one does not know, even in the midst of a city, which is my life a lot of the time. It is a Boppy Vibe (as the kids probably don't say) and I like it very much. 
⭐⭐⭐⭐

echoes
lifting up the thread/losing it again/try another place
This one was apparently inspired by the feeling of watching a loved one descend into dementia, which is something that I've had some experience with lately. It weaves together the present with the past, the fading past, the real past, and the misremembered past. It's beautiful, although not, I don't think, one of the prepossessing songs on the album either in terms of lyrics or tune. (The tune and accompaniment feel slightly disjointed, which is part of the point, but doesn't make the most pleasant listening, for me at least.)
⭐⭐⭐

3000 miles
This patch of sky and native ground/take turns to push and pull you down/forget trying to live and be happy/I'll take safe and terror free
This one (a cover of a Tracy Chapman song) captivated me from the very first phrase: "Good girls walk fast/in groups of three/fast girls walk slow/on side streets". It's the story of growing up in a bad part of town, moving away, as far away as possible, and the simultaneous relief and guilt, which isn't something I've really experienced, but which is fascinating to listen to. It's a dark one, though, and the chorus is quite repetitive, so it's not one of my favourites on the album. (Even though Lady Maisery's rendering of it is gorgeous in harmony and accompaniment!)
⭐⭐⭐

hyperballad
I go through all this/before you wake up/so I can feel happier/to be safe again with you
This is my very close second favourite song on the album, and I've had the immense pleasure & blessing of getting to hear them perform it live twice! It's a cover of a song by an artist called Bjork, to which Lady Maisery adds their incredible harmonies, and some really clever body percussion, as well. The harmonies on "safe again with you" kill me every time. The lyrics themselves are slightly disturbing...a woman throwing things off the edge of the cliff so that when she's done, she can go back and feel "safe again" with her partner (husband? boyfriend? unclear)...and it's left up to the listener to decide if they think there's something wrong with the woman, or if it's a coping method for a bad relationship. Either way, it's endlessly captivating, but if you struggle with mental health, perhaps not the song for you. 
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

scientist
she turns the lines on her screen into circles/circles to bars in a chart just to try/to find a way past, turns the circles to crosses/crosses to dots, and she stares, tries to find hope there
This is, by a very narrow margin, my favourite song on the album. It's written by Hazel, who is an incredibly talented songwriter, and addresses a topic I never thought I'd find on a folk-music-adjacent album--the life of a climate scientist. And yet, it's utterly amazing, engaging, and fascinating! It juxtaposes the scientist's profession life ("the scientist sits in her tower...the lines on her screen they are rising...") with her personal life (her husband, "drowsy sleeper", and her son, "tiny sculptor") in a fascinating constellation of images. And the music of it is incredibly beautiful and fitting, with sounds in the background that sound like the 'music of the spheres'. I love it. 
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

rest now
we'll climb to the top of the mountain/knowing that the mountain is the best place for seeing
This one is about the legacy of the women who have been change-makers in the world. Which is quite cool, but somehow the execution of it kind of leaves me cold? Maybe because it still feels really sad even though it's celebrating success, in a sense? It feels similarly disjointed to "echoes", I think. Also, I'm...kind of not a feminist? I'm glad to be able to vote and all, but I'm not super tied to a lot of the things that women have (politically) "accomplished" recently, per se. (Although I do really love the lines that I quoted above...climbing to the top of the mountain is very much my vibe.)
⭐⭐

the fall
I watch leaves tumble/spiral and spin
A retelling of Pandora's Box that brings in themes of autumn (the Fall? get it? :D) with a fascinating slightly dissonant tune that reflects the dissonance of the fall from grace. I would say that it gets a bit feminist for me (again), but the question of "why it is women/have so far to fall" is still a sound one, I think. 
⭐⭐⭐

child among the weeds
Sing for the love of weeping and burning/and sing for the love of wheeling and turning.
This is a cover of a Lal Waterson song, and while I wasn't the most impressed with it when I first heard it, it's grown on me. (I've also gotten to hear them sing this one live twice...not as spectacular as "hyperballad", but still really cool.) It's really enigmatic and feels almost like a folk riddle, which I really like. (Baby, old man, young man...it really does seem like the start of a riddle.) Plus, the bits about singing "for the love of wheeling and turning" are gorgeous. 
⭐⭐⭐⭐

noughts and crosses
and we're holding hands/the circle spread so thinly/as with blinding love.../we hope
Another favourite! (I have a lot of favourites on this album. :D) I am OBSESSED with the accordion ostinato that the song starts with. And the harmonies, of course. :) It apparently was inspired by the end of COVID, and the realization that the world was going back to 'normal' without seeming to improve at all. Even so, it feels like a hopeful song, as the refrain would suggest...
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

birdsong
the sang the swift as she passed by/she sings as the glides and she scores the sky/she's come so far and there's miles to go/she hardly ever stops/there's never time to stop
Last one! And another favourite! :D I wasn't a huge fan of this one until I heard it live, and now I'm obsessed. It starts with a sustained 'bit' on the fiddle, which is meant to sound like birdsong, and then goes through (in very folk music-y fashion) a bunch of birds and their songs and why they're singing them, and it's beautiful. Plus, the way voices and harmonies build through the song, and actually end up mimicking those specific birds' song...*chef's kiss* And the refrain of "sing out/sing up/breathe deeply/ in the grip of the night/set the morning free" is just <3
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The moment of truth...overall rating is...
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Yay! Good stuff! :) See you all next week!