Debut collections that spark chatter well before their release can be the products of well-orchestrated media campaigns or of plain, unadulterated talent. Niamh Bury has been a mainstay of the monthly gathering at the Cobblestone bar, in Smithfield in Dublin, known as The Night Before Larry Got Stretched for the past five years, and word of her distinctive songwriting and rich vocal timbre has reached well beyond the city’s trad and folk circles.
Produced by Brían MacGloinn of Ye Vagabonds and released by Claddagh Records (Bury is one of only three signings to the label in many years, the others being Øxn and Lemoncello), Yellow Roses is a highly cohesive body of work that reveals itself gradually through a series of original songs that peek at the world from deliciously unlikely angles.
Bury’s vocal style is reminiscent of Laura Marling and Lisa Hannigan’s, her diction highly distinctive and her phrasing impeccable. The wistfulness at the heart of the collection draws the listener in with pristine yet unforced arrangements anchored by Ryan Hargadon’s piano.
The album is book-ended by the aptly titled opener, Discovery, and the closing single, Budapest, where Hargadon’s piano has echoes of Keith Jarrett and Jeff Labes’ work on Van Morrison’s The Garden. Kate Ellis’s cello and Caimin Gilmore’s double bass add to the sense that this album occupies a higher ground, where the musicians are in service of the songs.
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The musicianship at play throughout this collection is a joy: full of light and space, the spare group of musicians, augmented by Alannah Thornburgh on harp, let the songs breathe deep and free while also mooring them securely.
Bury’s songwriting is strikingly mature, highly observational and inclined towards looking at the world askance. Her lyrical deftness is akin to that of Nick Drake and, on occasion, Paul Buchanan of The Blue Nile, whether she is addressing the intricacies of the mind, on Beehive, or the ties that can bind, on Bite the Bridle. Her reading of the sole folk song in the collection, Lovely Adam, is a masterclass in owning a tune passed down through the generations while still honouring its origins.
Bury’s debut bears testament to the vibrancy of our folk scene as well as to the benefits of a lengthy gestation. Shortlisted in the emerging-artist category at this year’s RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards, Bury has served a long apprenticeship, with the Inishowen Singing Weekend acting as lighter fuel to her trajectory.
Yellow Roses is a collection that promises to be a long player, with listeners luxuriating in its many layers, safe in the knowledge that more will be revealed with each visit.
