Mary Epworth - Dream Life
Artist: Mary Epworth
Album: Dream Life
OUT NOW
Rating: 4/5
It was back in 2008 that Mary Epworth released her debut single The Saddle Song and now, four years later, she has her debut album for us all to enjoy.
Dream Life shows off Epworth at her very best as she confidently mixes genres to make a spellbinding record that is like nothing else out a the moment.
Long Gone is the opening track on the album and you think you know what you are going to get a run of the mill folk track as the opening is quite stripped back but then the beat kicks in as this track becomes something else.
The drums and the trumpet really bring this track to life but Epworth moves back and forth between the more jubilant feel that these instruments bring to the slow almost acoustic sound from the start of the track - this works so well.
Black Doe has been a single for the singer/songwriter and this is a really atmospheric track, one of the strongest on the album.
Again there is a slow start to the track before drums and the guitars kick in to give a real stomping feel to the record.
The quite heavy instrumentation is contrasted fantastically to the delicate vocals from Epworth - however her voice is never drowned out or overpowered.
Sweet Boy is more of a traditional pop/folk track as the acoustic element really shows of Epworth's great vocal in all it's glory.
She does have quite a delicate sounding and yet there is a commanding quality to it that really draws an audience in.
There is a folksy surrealism to Two For Joy as Epworth shows that she is willing to experiment with her sound and this certainly is an unexpected direction after the acoustic track that came before it.
But it's a track that really stands out because there is nothing else really like it on the album and Epworth shows a real power with her vocal on this track that is a contrast to the tracks the come before it.
Dream Life is an album that will really hit a chord with listeners as Epworth has put together an eclectic sounding collection of tracks.
Mary Epworth is a musician who knows herself and the music that she wants to make incredibly well as she has confidently spliced together different genres and sounds to create something unique and beautiful.
Mary Epworth - Dream Life is out now
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw