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Folk North West Aug 07.

LORRAINE JORDAN A Light Over There (Hazellville Music HZ011)
Highly recommended

" Lorraine Jordan is undoubtedly one of the finest and most talented folk singer-songwriters in Britain. Even if it’s been a long time in the offing, the evidence is that A Light Over There has been well worth the wait.

She’s has gathered around her a great bunch of musicians, including the superb fiddle player, Sarah Beattie, the veteran Steafan Hannigan (Uillean pipes), Richard Jones (accordion), Jenny Maidman (various guitars), and cello player Kate Baker. Jordan and Debbie Dickinson have really done a great job on production and the CD hangs perfectly together as a sequential entity.  

Jordan has absorbed a number of influences on her travels but she is probably at her most comfortable and lyrically articulates with ballads and lullabies. Many of the songs on the CD seem to tap into her personal experiences – as any good songwriter does. The opening track really shows the upside of love, when you are in that falling in love state that sees you inexorably absorbed into a blissful relationship in which you offer ‘No Resistance’ to what is happening to you. ‘Your love’ contrasts the state of mind and depths of despair that can happen when one has no soul mate (“Down to zero I dropped, Down too deep I was lost”) with the sudden uplifting transformative confidence that finding the right person brings.

Other very notable tracks on a very notable album include, ‘Danni’, about someone whose been damaged by many of life’s tortuous experiences but is now coming out the other side, while the title track and ‘Dreamers’ draw heavily on her Scottish tradition and influences. There’s also the beautiful love ballad, ‘If you want me too’ and the album draws to a fitting close with the lovely lilting lullaby, ‘Dum di Diddle’.

Lorraine Jordan’s performance and quality as an artist is best summed in the second track on this album. ‘From the heart’ (penned by Susan Clark and ironically the only track not composed by Jordan) is upbeat, passionate and highlights the quality that separates out those artists, like Jordan herself, who put their heart and soul into every performance and those who just go through the motions. The main message of the song (and the album) is ’sing like you don’t need the money...it’s got to come from the heart if you want it to work’. She has a highly distinctive voice and delivers her superb repertoire of songs with distinction. And yes Lorraine Jordan does sing like she doesn’t need the money and yes it works to perfection.

Highly recommended.
Lewis Jones