I posted about Rachel back in June, when the world was young. She has now produced a new album entitled ‘The North Star’, which she describes as a winter collection. There are nine tracks ranging from traditional carols to Christmas songs and the more esoteric.
The album opens with what she describes as a sultry version of the Shakin’ Stevens hit ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’. On first hearing it came as something of a surprise, but now seems to be the way the song should always have been performed. This is followed by a stripped down version of ‘O Holy Night’ which allows the purity of Rachel’s voice to carry the lyrics with absolute clarity. It is also the only version I heard recently which includes all the verses.
For track three, we move from the traditional to the contemporary – River by Canadian song writer Joni Mitchell. Rachel writes ‘It’s no secret that I have loved Joni Mitchell forever – she’s up there with Eva Cassidy for me, the two of them were played in circulation at our house when I was small.’ Again a lovely rendition of the song, worthy of Joni herself. Rachel has put this track out on Facebook and You Tube with a somewhat hypnotic video, where the camera moves slowly above a river in winter, which when juxtaposed with the music provides the perfect setting.
Track 4 takes us back a traditional carol with Cornish origins ‘The First Noel’. In contrast to ‘O Holy Night’ Rachel contents herself with only the first verse and chorus coupled with some gently humming, allowing the guitar to be heard. This track provides a lighter note sandwiched as it is between two weighty ballads. Which brings us to Track 5. ‘Who Knows Where The Time Goes’. which is always a challenging song to cover. Personally, Sandy Denny is the epitome of female folk singers and her version of this song is the one against all other versions are measured. Rachel manages to capture both the fragility and power of the original, whilst bringing her own phrasing to the song.
Track 6 brings us to the perennial Christmas favourite ‘White Christmas’. Whilst Rachel sings this song fairly straight, she brings her own voice to the humming section, eschewing the Bing Crosby for something more earthy, again the word sultry comes to mind. Track 7 is an accapella version of ‘The Holly and The Ivy’. Rachel gave us the choice of whether or not to have the track include a drone before she released it. The majority verdict was for the voice alone, which I think makes it quietly beautiful.
And so to the last two tracks. Track 8 is a cover of Lily Allen’s ‘Somewhere Only We Know’, which whilst not directly related to Christmas, now has become connected to season in the mind of the public because of it’s appearance in the John Lewis Christmas Advert in 2013. The song suits the emotional power of Rachel’s voice and makes it one of the standouts of the album. Finally and appropriately the last track is ‘Auld Lang Syne’. Listening to her version of such a well known song, you can hear her folk roots. The understated Scottish lilt in the voice works really well and rounds off the album in style.
The album makes a beautiful contribution to what will be a very different Christmas. If you want to be distracted from the current situation then these tunes will take you to a place of peace and stillness.
