Reviews

Sorrel Nation
Album: Creeping Thyme
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 9
Website: https://sorrelnationmusic.com/

Earlier this summer, I was minding my own business, when I found myself wandering into a Magic Teapot, drawn in by the sounds of perfectly played country – americana sounding acoustic music. I found myself face to face with Sorrel Nation and her band, playing away in the corner and immediately fell in love with what I was hearing. So it is with great excitement that their new album Creeping Thyme landed on my desk this week.

To clarify – The Magic Teapot is a traveling ‘listening room and café’ that you will find gracing the site of many a festival. I came across it at Wickham Festival where I was lucky enough to interview Sorrel and the band and they also played live for my radio show, The Folk Club (*you will still find that show available on Mixcloud).

One of the tracks they played that day is the title track of the album, an excellently crafted song with a country feel, expertly executed alongside the rest of the band, who all originally met in The Magic Teapot and made up of Theo (Cello), Holly (Bass) and Sam (resonator and Sarah (Fiddle). It’s a mellow and rhythmicalsong that immediately shows off the relationship between the musicians and how at ease they are with each other. The other song they played for me that day was the lead single off the record, Ran Johnny Ran, and it’s easy to see why they chose that to set the scene for the album to follow. It’s a masterpiece, a narrative tale which builds and the harmonies that grace the chorus are to die for.

The rest of the album is equally as good, Chaos Town starts with Sorrel showing off her range in a haunting opening before weaving its way into a story that makes you feel you are wandering through the plains of America on your way to your Sweet Chaos Town, where the drinks go round and round, creating some sort of desire to leave and get back into a more relaxed rural landscape. Child of Autumn carries a tinge of sadness as this, initially very simply, arranged song draws the listener into the narrator’s life journey and a reflection on the approaching end. As the song builds the full band come in and take it to a fitting and powerful climax.

Don’t Forget About Me, once again shows the story aspect of Sorrel’s writing and Real Damn Good follows the pattern in telling the story of a relationship gone wrong. Tell Me You Love me, is just Sorrel and the acoustic guitar, a classic love song in which she lays her heart on her sleeve for someone she is longing to be with, but maybe it seems to be a dream rather than a reality. When the Winter Breaks is an upbeat track about courage, anticipating a shift from dark to light, be it a literal move between the seasons or a metaphorical movement from one part of life and into another

The album concludes with a cover of the Classic Sandy Denny song, Who Knows Where the Time Goes?. A song that has been covered by many an artist, but this version more than hold its own, a nod to an inspiration and a showcase for the singer and the band.

I love this record. When I met the guys, I was drawn in by their infectious attitude to life and music, and this album doesn’t change my mind about them. If you want a fabulous collection of contemporary americana songs stemming from our home shores, this is it.

Stuart Green

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