Review: Freya Josephine Hollick – The Unceremonious Junking Of Me
fortemag.com.au
With this release, it marks Freya Josephine Hollick’s return following her 2014 release Beauty and Sorrow. Inspired in part by early blues songs, it’s dark folk at its finest that brings in an old world charm missed out with many musicians these days.
It’s worth mentioning that with this album, it features Kat Mear (from Cash Savage and the Last Drinks) playing fiddle in line with Hollick on guitar and Pete Fidler on dobro and mandolin. ‘A Man is the Water’ is an interesting song, both for its content and its lack of any real chorus. Hollick moans and croons through the track as she tells the story of a man in the water (which was inspired by coming across such a scene on a walk one day).
A highlight for me is ‘Saccharine’, in which Hollick’s vocals seem to coast above the gentle instrumental arrangement. It’s all about the content and the vocals, and you can’t help but be drawn in to listen, much like whispering secrets in each other’s ear, this track has that effect. ‘Winter Flower’ is also a particularly beautiful track. Overall, it’s a nod to music of the past, to simpler times and a massive timewarp overall.
Heart of the Rat Records
Reviewed by Valerie Vatoosh
Three and a half stars