Her return after an absence of 38 years is one that’s been lauded by everyone from Jonny Greenwood to Blur’s Graham Coxon. Shirley Collins is an English folk icon (remember The Albion Country Band?) who’s chosen a re-entry path that’s nothing if not unpredictable.
It’s laden with welcome surprises. Having lost her singing voice for many years, its return is brings a warm and weathered timbre, less austere than before, and ideally suited to the epic tales of murder, unrequited love and cross- dressing she’s chosen for this collection.
English, Cajun and American songs from the 16th to the 21st centuries cosy up alongside one another like first cousins once removed. The release of an accompanying video for Death And The Lady reinforces the rare thing of beauty that Lodestar is.
