Her debut album, Week of Pines, made Georgia Ruth one of the British folk discoveries of the year, and deservedly won the Welsh music prize in 2013. The follow-up provides further evidence of her fine, cool voice and strength as a highly personal songwriter, but it is a more disappointing affair. She presumably thought she could broaden her appeal by including only one song in Welsh and concentrating on keyboard backing rather than her Bert Jansch-influenced harp playing, but she now sounds a little more ordinary.
This is an album of pleasant, atmospheric songs that are not helped by the synth effects or mechanical-sounding percussion. But it has its moments. There’s a charming acoustic song in Welsh; an excellent piano-backed opening to When I Was Blue, before the band ease in; and the unexpected inclusion of a stringed Indian instrument, the sarangi.
