Nothing = Everything
CD
on
Sharon King Music
Cat No:
SKM001
, Stk Ref
79455
Released on: 25 July 2012
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Magazine Review
Current holder of Edinburgh Folk Club’s Songwriter Of The Year Trophy, Sharon King, over the course of the twelve original songs on ‘Nothing = Everything’, proves why she is worthy of such an award. After recording three albums with Shake The Shack, Sharon went solo in 1999. Another three albums followed before the talented singer-songwriter formed the Reckless Trio in 2010.
Although Sharon wrote all the songs on ‘Nothing = Everything’, this album is very much a band effort. Both Reckless Angels, Vera van Heeringen whose mandolin adds so much texture to the songs and Amy Geddes whose viola and fiddle colour many of the songs, turn Sharon’s sketches on love and life into complete works of art.
But while all three girls are more than accomplished musicians, and, although Sharon is a songwriter of some class, it’s the way that the girls voices harmonise so perfectly that sets this batch of songs apart from the rest. There are many female bands just now making similar music and making more than a fair fist of it. The latest offerings from First Aid Kit and the Cornshed Sisters are just two superb albums that come readily to mind, but there’s something about Sharon King and the Reckless Angels that sets them apart from the crowd.
The reason for this changes every time the album is listened to. The first thing that strikes you is Sharon’s vocals. As early as the second song on the album, ‘Avalon’, the emotion in Sharon’s at times almost quavering, voice will capture your attention, then it will be turned to the viola and mandolin provided by Amy and Vera before their backing vocals just blow you away. Produced so that it appears that Sharon is standing right in front of you, it’s an intimate performance that is just one of many vocal treats scattered throughout the album.
There’s a melancholy feel to the whole album, not depressing in any way, but sadness hangs heavily over many of these songs. The instruments actually tell a lot of these tales. They are not just there to flesh out the songs, but inplaces they say a lot more than words ever could. That the band produced all the songs says even more about their combined talents.
The sound that Sharon King and The Reckless Angels make has been described as Celtic Folk and while that neatly sums up their music there is so much more going on here. Obviously the winds have carried the classic sounds of Americana all the way from a back porch across the ocean to influence Sharon’s work and that’s nothing new, but few have songs as strong as those that Sharon writes to convey this sound. Coupled with her outstanding vocals and the sterling back up from the Reckless Angels these girls really do add a new dimension to this age-old genre.
If Sharon King doesn’t break through with this latest collection, then there really is no justice in this world. ‘Nothing = Everything’ is one of the strongest sets of songs that has been released so far this year, and one hopes that it won’t be the last we hear of these three talented girls making music together. It’s a beautiful piece of work, timeless, affecting and an album that you’ll keep near.
The closing song, ‘It’s A Beautiful Day’ is the most uplifting (as the title would suggest) song on offer here and by closing the album in this way you will be left with no choice but to listen to the whole album once again.
Malcolm Carter
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