Sorrel Nation - Thirty Summers
Self-released
****
I have a particular fondness for the musical genre of ‘soft-spoken women playing acoustic guitar,’ and Kent-born Sorrel Nation has followed what’s become a familiar path from bedroom folk to a fully realised musical vision. Recorded live this past April, at the Grey Lady, Tunbridge Wells, during her first nationwide headline tour, the singer-songwriter has discovered her greatness, and actually gone beyond it. Released to coincide with Sorrel’s 30th birthday, it pulses with the delicious drama of loving: oneself, others, home, work, and everything our hearts are capable of. Tracking several journeys, the seven-song set seamlessly travels through the passion and despair of the singer-songwriter’s tumultuous life and career. Each deeply satisfying step of the way is a world in itself. It’s music that both demands and deserves undivided attention, and you can feel that each audience member is sat on the edge of their seat, totally enraptured by the sheer power of Sorrel’s emotional vocals.
She offers the tender wisdom that’s become her signature in Living Free. A wise mix of Lucinda Williams songwriting, Gillian Welch guitar and a vocal all her very own, she demolishes musical boundaries with a sound as soft as a knife, as sharp as a feather. Crazy For You is a sensual quest for a passionate kind of love. The harder she tries to sound mature, the more she reveals the neediness of her exhausted heart. It could just as easily be a song she sings to herself as to a lover. With the sinuous Everyday,she carefully lays out the internal battles that come with being so madly in love that they consume her whole life. It’s a powerfully passionate performance that completely envelopes the listener.
She sketches out quiet, quotidian scenes in 16 Year Old Me, filled with patiently observed details that can jolt even a passive listener. From the fluttering opening notes, where she shows off the high end of her singing range and a quivering vocal control, she has the power to make you cry with just one note you never saw coming. When her voice and guitar work together on Sandy Denny’s Who Knows Where The Time Goes, the effect is truly transcendent. This sensual and sedate cover finds a fit with any earlier expectations and blends nicely with the mellow mood established by the previous half-a-dozen songs and leads you to want to listen to the whole thing all over again.
June 2024