Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Emily Barker explores deep meaning in her album Fragile As Humans, and whilst the Americana to which she has selflessly progressed within takes its usual stance of openness and exaltation, it is to the pain of grief that the poet within reveals her world; a prolonged sadness to which music is the sole antidote, that time creates stability around with a shoulder to weep upon, and in which salvation may be achieved.

The melody and persuasive truth of Fragile As Humans is at its heart, one that the Bridgend born artist weaves with style and significance, a delicate procedure of movement given a soul as the song feels its way, the issues of existence, of the precarious nature of humanity’s relationship with our home, with our selves is one given to a peculiar ending, that no matter how we try the damage is always extensive, always precarious.

The album, which kicks off with the excellent With A Small Start, roams the psyche with a warning to those who exhibit the ability to reckon with the devilish out of hand and without care. As the album progresses the sense of small, of the minute, Ms. Barker refuses to give in, she showcases the large, the sizeable belief that fragility is not be scared of, instead we should understand just how beautiful it can be, and with Wild To Be Sharing This Moment, the superb message within Feathered Things and Loneliness, and the sheer sound of Life Is For An Hour, all offering resilience in the act of the frailty, the listener is offered a gift, a bequest to the abandoned and the isolated to think on, to know that someone will listen, will care.

Fragile As Humans is the antipathies of the solitary mind, it asks the listener to embrace the cool and beating heart of the musician as if it were their own. A dramatic and respectful recording, one that pushes the musician onward.

Ian D. Hall