13. Karine PolwartTraces
There’s something so pure about this, about all of Karine’s work. Iain Cook [of Aereogramme, The Unwinding Hours and Chvrches] did the production on it – it’s an amazing sounding record. Karine’s voice is incredible, but she never has to hammer it home, and I think that makes what she does all the more powerful, because it just lingers. It’s like a ghost. It pops into my head all the time, even if I’ve not listened to it in ages.
It’s a really intelligent, emotive album, and as soon as I heard it I wanted to work with her [on ‘Yew Tree’ from Telling The Trees]. This album doesn’t fall into the usual tropes that you can get on folk records – you know, terrible big reverbs everywhere, fucking bagpipes floating over the moors – instead you’ve got this crisp but very intimate sound. It works so well. It’s perfect.
