Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Adversity is the window of opportunity, even if at the time it does not feel as though it is possible because the glass is darkened and the catch is on, all you must remember is that you can break the glass, smash it as though you would your own fears, and then take the world on in the open air and with your own artistic weapon of choice.

Isolation is perhaps the biggest single issue that concerns us in good times and in the depths of strange periods of imbalance. Some crave solitude; however, solitude offers the belief that we have elected to keep others at bay for a while, that it is our own choosing to be in our private company. It is in isolation that we can feel as though we have been placed in prison, the darkened cell acting as a demonic dreamcatcher, the negativity allying itself with the mind, and without a steady anchor, we would come adrift.

We all require the attachment in the dark to give us the understanding what light can bring and whether it be an anchor or an Anchoress, we find that comfort in holding on can lead us to weather any storm thrown at us and inspire us to create a song of defiance, of love and of perspective.

It is in perspective that folk singer and multi-instrumentalist Anna Tam has stepped out of her own isolation and brought together a series of traditional British folk songs and thanks to inspiration, has put her own incredible reading to them. 

Not only has the musician reached out by tacking subjects such as abandonment and loss, but she has also done so with elegance, with a voice that soars, and in tracks such as Tarry Trousers, Whittingham Fair, Braes of Balquihidder, If I Were A Blackbird, I Know My Love, the superb Let No Man Steal Your Thyme and She Moved Through The Fair, that sense of having security is tied up with the understanding that your life has a co-commentator, one who fills your own observation with colour and depth.

Anchoress is an outstanding album, full of sound and creativity, and one that finds a way to keep the listener grounded and yet allowed to soar above the damage below.

Ian D. Hall