Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
To suggest that the phenomenal Eddi Reader has wandered through music since bursting onto the scene with Fairground Attraction would be doing this versatile and exciting musician a massive disservice. This is not a woman who can be accused of strolling through life, drifting from record to record, song to song as with some; the beauty she exudes through her music is enough at times to take your breath away and her latest solo album Vagabond is no exception.
The album is a journey is discovery, of finding of oneself that may have been lost in the maelstrom of day to day life and with the involvement of some her finest music collaborators brings the tracks that have dominated the last couple of years and the events that have been a large part of that extraordinary life to the forefront. It allows her fans a type of intimate access only usually afforded in a warts and all autobiography or red top paper sensationalist expose, the music is always the better way in which to understand the artist.
The extraordinary way poets and musicians see past the often self-imposed boundaries in which they inhabit is always astounding and Eddi Reader is not immune. The pain of love is always hard to bear but to bring it out in some rather amazing and surprising ways. Throughout Vagabond the listener seems takes on the role of the faithful invisible friend, the conduit for the immense energy she produces. It was an energy that saw her write so much that many tracks were left off the final recording but what is there is channels the talent of Eddi Reader, Roy Dodds, the sensational Ewen Vernal, Boo Hewerdine, Ian Carr, Alan Kelly, John Douglas and John McCusker to the point where if ever there is shortage of power in your area in the years to come then the best thing to do would be to dig out your copy of Vagabond and let it do its work.
With tracks that include the superb opener I’ll Never be the Same, the sublime Back to the Dogs (Dancing Down Rock), the beauty of Macushla (My Darling), Snowflakes in the Sun and Here Come The Bells, Vagabond is suitably mammoth. The listener, let into the life of Eddi Reader through this album will assuredly treasure the time together, the confidence that will flow both ways from the experience heightened and one in which the musician, especially for those coming to the album by accident, a seasoned tenant in the music of one of Scotland’s finest.
Vagabond is released on February 3rd via Reveal Records.
Ian D. Hall