The Quietus - A new rock music and pop culture website

Baker's Dozen

Worlds To Walk Into: Darren Hayman's Favourite Albums
Luke Turner , May 13th, 2020 08:55

As he releases a beautifully reflective album on the fall-out from a broken love, Darren Hayman takes us through 13 favourite albums, from Miles Davis collaborating with John Coltrane via Cliff Richard, the kids from Fame, Liz Phair, Nic Jones, ELO and The Damned.

Iris_dement_1589213862_resize_460x400

Iris Dement - The Trackless Woods
A few months ago, I got a train to Glasgow to see my beloved Iris Dement. I got a sleeper train back the same night. It was the most fun I've ever had on my own. I’m surprised to be choosing something so late in her career, but this is extraordinary work. She has taken the words of Russian poet Anna Akhmatova and set them to music, partly in response to her adopting a Russian child. I find it redundant to reduce an artist to ‘a voice’ and Iris is so much more that, but the sound she makes provokes such an immediate physical effect in me. She makes me cry so often.