Patsy Matheson "A Little Piece Of England" (Witch, 2008)

The quiet joys of sisterhood

Late of the now defunct Waking the Witch, Patsy Matheson's first solo album for a decade is a quiet joy and a real grower. Sonically it falls slap bang into the rather overcrowded "female acoustic singer-songwriter" slot but lyrically it's head and shoulders above it. Opening with "Addiction To You", a pared-down haiku of a song that encapsulates the "I know I shouldn't but I can't help it" feeling so common to so many fractured relationships, it takes in cutting comment on contemporary Britain ("Play the Game" and "Treading Water Town") and Iraq ("Precious Little Soldier") as well as the perhaps more expected relationship songs ("This New Song" and "Sunday Morning Song"). The latter is particular interesting as it was apparently conceived as a positive celebration of family life, yet contains the couplet "And I think of the boy that I married/And I look at the man in my bed"), which could at the very least be read in an entirely different way.

The only accompaniment to Matheson's wistful, often elegiac vocals are a muted acoustic guitar and occasional hints of percussion and this all comes together best .. Down To Wroxham", a perfect pastoral encapsulation of a languid summer's day with a lover. Overall this is a very English album, littered with geographic and cultural references, most notably on contemporary folk tale "Ulverston Gypsy", and Matheson brings it all back home on the final title track, both love letter and statement of personal place. All in all, a triumph.

Jeremy Searle, www.americana-uk.com

Album available to order now from Amazon at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Piece-England-Patsy-Matheson/dp/B001EWOKYU