BRAND NEW UK ISSUE CD

The Scottish folk singers critically aclaimed new album ( March 2008)

The chiming opening track of Karine Polwart's This Earthly Spell, a gorgeous vocal setting of a lyric by eminent Scots poet Edwin Morgan, gives way to the steely, swampy "Sorry", whilst the delightful jazz inflected whimsy of "The News" contrasts the anti-nuclear political bite of "Better Things" and the incisive "Painted It White". Unsurprisingly, for a new mum, three songs deal with motherhood. The poignant understatement of "Firethief", which Polwart wrote originally for HIV/AIDS documentary "The Enemy That Lives Within", unravels a mother’s loss; whilst she wrote the tender and delicate "Rivers Run" for her own son. But it’s the eerie and atmospheric parable "Tongue That Cannot Lie" that, most of all, betrays Polwart’s background as a former philosophy teacher, and her ongoing fascination with moral ambivalence. Inspired by the supernatural legend surrounding thirteenth century Scottish Borders poet and prophet Thomas The Rhymer, it also distinguishes her as an ambitious and captivating storyteller.

1. The Good Years

2. Sorry

3. Better Things

4. Rivers Run

5. Painted It White

6. Firethief

7. Behind Our

8. Eyes

9. The News

10. Sorrowlessfield

11. Tongue That Cannot Lie