Having met on a writing retreat, it is perhaps no surprise that England’s Marry Waterson and Australia’s Emily Barker found their voices made a harmonious fit. Both women have a history of collaborative projects. That their respective personae also gelled was more unexpected. Waterson, a scion of Yorkshire’s Waterson-Carthy dynasty, sings much like her late mother Lal; stoicism and lowering northern skies are never far away. By contrast, Barker has inclined to upbeat Americana; her last album, Sweet Kind of Blue, recorded in Memphis, bristles with soul and country influences.
Together, the pair have cooked up a dozen songs that blend light and dark, helped by the cello parts of producer Adem Ilhan, encountered at the same retreat. It’s a surprise to hear Waterson crooning to handclaps and electric guitar on Perfect Needs, a number nudging Fleetwood Mac jauntiness, and to find a folk drone such as Little Hits of Dopamine morph into psychedelia. On Trick of the Light they let naked voices do the work, while elsewhere, vocals are set to crepuscular electronica shot through with Barker’s banjo. The songs, alternately reflective and provocative, are short, and the occasional rough edge is lost in a mood of mutual celebration.
