Joan Shelley - Real Warmth
★★★★
NO QUARTER
“Every emotion in one small hour,” sings Joan Shelley, observing her young daughter Talya on Field Guide To Wild Life. “A raging ocean, a meteor shower.” The folk-adjacent auteur’s ninth studio LP is alive, Natalie Merchant-style, to the marvels of creation, but also the vulnerability that comes with suddenly having a physical stake in the future of humanity.
Featuring much of the ensemble that played on The Weather Station’s Humanhood (Tamara Lindeman included), Real Warmth dives into the thick of nature on Fairport-toned opener Here In The High And Low and the sax-y On The Gold And Silver. New Anthem, meanwhile, gives thanks for Shelley’s partner Nathan Salsburg, but the 40-year-old also feels their wings being clipped in the service of family on Everybody. “I am always with you, always,” Shelley promises on closer The Hum; a testament to enduring love, maybe, but a reminder of the eternal vigilance that is its shadow.
Real Warmth is out September 19 on No Quarter.
ORDER: Amazon | Rough Trade| HMV
Track Listing:
1. Here In The High And Low
2. On Silver And Gold
3. Field Guide To Wild Life
4. Wooden Boat
5. For When You Can’t Sleep
6. Everybody
7. New Anthem
8. Heaven Knows
9. Ever Entwine
10. Give It Up, It’s Too Much
11. The Orchard
12. Who Do You Want Checking In On You
13. The Hum
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