Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It is a cause for celebration when The Frost Is All Over, a time to remember that spring is on its way, that the desolate feeling, the icy grip of a winter’s chill is but fleeting and so is the frost when the warmth of a good soul can find it in their hearts to allow the frigid nature of life to come back alive. For Kate Rusby, the warmth comes over in waves, in which ever guise her career has taken, the endless enthusiasm; the very natural air of her work spreads the passion of Folk far and wide.

In her latest album, The Frost Is All Over, Kate Rusby once more leads her fans down the path of subtle cool with her own particular flavour of Yorkshire inspired folk and the wish for peace on Earth via the medium of Wassailing. Whether of the Yorkshire variety or the humbling interaction of a far off county in a Cornish Wassailing, the frost may come a knocking, the taste of eggnog may sit forever rampant in the air, but it is the beauty of one woman’s voice and a collection of superbly experienced musicians that carry the day.

The Frost Is All Over allows the light to be seen, it ventures paste the darkest hour and in songs such as Winter Wonderland, Dilly Carol, The Christmas Goose and the aforementioned Cornish Wassailing, Kate Rusby, Damien O’ Kane, Duncan Lyall, Nick Cooke, Aaron Jones, Cormac Byrne and the gentlemen of the brass band section all hold up beacons in the form of soft and extraordinary tunes and guide the weary winter traveller back towards a gentler time, a more astonishing time of wonder and simple pleasure.

If Kate Rusby is the Winter glow then the music and vocals on offer in this album are the thought of summer, one which perhaps measures more within a Southern Hemisphere period but is most certainly Barnsley throughout. A captivating set of songs and ones that are full of the right spirit.

Ian D. Hall