“Eighty one was quite an age for a comeback, but with 2016’s Lodestar – tentatively voiced but with dazzling accompaniment – Shirley Collins reclaimed her place as a doyenne of English folk after an absence of 30-odd years. Heart’s Ease proves a more confident follow-up, with guitarist Ian Kearey again overseeing settings for songs such as Rolling in the Dew and Barbara Allen that Collins first rec”
“There’s a song on Heart’s Ease, the ninth Shirley Collins album in six decades, written by Buz Collins – the late son of the late Dolly Collins, Shirley’s sister and collaborator. One of the very few non-traditional songs in the record (or indeed, in the Shirley Collins recorded canon), ‘Locked in Ice’ concerns the story of the SS Baychimo. As the First World War began, the steel cargo ship was la”
“The English folk maven sounds spry as ever, leading a light-footed exploration of traditional forms that also tips toward classic psychedelia.”
