Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Bristol County Tides swell and rise each day, they drive the beauty of the area, the sense of being able to imagine the world as the channel fills and the banks become a haven for all who see the bittersweet release of continuance and renewal as one and the same natural event.
You cannot understand joy if you never suffer heartache, you cannot recover if you don’t fall, and into the Bristol County Tides we must understand that like the imagery and feel of the river and the tide and the water, emotions and souls, are deep, they are fraught with the unexpected pull of the rip tide that take the listener and the hearty swimmer out beyond their comfort zone, but give them the impetuous to learn how to deal with the complexities of the disquiet of tenderness.
For Annie Keating, Bristol County Tides is an authentic journey down a road we all have traversed, the point of being human is to accept loss, rejection and fear as much as it is to bask in the reflection of pleasure, triumph and assurance, and yet the album is very much her own rite of passage being explored, the rip tide taking her down the bottom of the sea floor, as well as lifting her to the point where the listener joins her on the crest of the wave.
The emotional spirit of Brooklyn based singer/songwriter Annie Keating is not just compelling, it is tied to the perspective of the listener in ways that are sincere and illuminating, the narrative is clear and objective, and yet there is so much passion riding on every lyric, every intonation is observed and pulse ridden, and in the end tracks such as Kindred Spirit, Nobody Knows, Half Mast, the exceptional Blue Moon Tide, the subtle humour that underrides Hank’s Saloon and the finales of Shades of Blue and Goodbye.
This being the musician’s eighth studio album, it seems destined that the music is perhaps more entwinned within her D.N.A., the inspiration, the observances of the last year whilst the world looked on in horror and concern, the moment when we all realised that we had to swim harder than we have ever done, is the most telling response to the unexpected journey, that in any circumstance, art will win out.
An album of depth and sincerity, passionate, fearless, and one that flows superbly. Annie Keating’s Bristol County Tides is a marvellous, enjoyable piece of artistry.
Annie Keating’s Bristol County Tides is released in Europe on May 7th.
Ian D. Hall