GILLIAN WELCH - THE HARROW & THE HARVEST

On repeated listens The Harrow & the Harvest feels mysterious and is replete with events alluded to, but unsung. Many of their albums are like this – carefully written to sound like folk manuscripts handed down across the ages, illuminated by David Rawlings's eloquent guitar.

The Harrow & the Harvest is especially full of drama that occurs off-camera. It is the best kind of record: one that lures you in and soothes you with harmonies and banjo, only to leave you wondering what the hell just happened. The mystery starts on the cover – a faintly art deco affair casting Welch and her partner as neo-medieval figures surrounded by significant flora and fauna, art that recalls the cover of Joanna Newsom's Ys.

There are riddles within, too. "Scarlet Town" invokes a deep well, a dark grave and an iron bell and unmentioned happenings that "did mortify my soul". The protagonist ends up looking at Scarlet Town down a telescope, from hell. We never learn why. On "Silver Dagger", Welch's protagonist is "on the dark side of a hollow hill"; she is "through with food". Is she strung out on drugs? Is she a ghost, and was she killed by her lover?

Fans often flock to Americana seduced by the ragged glories of its (frequently male) protagonists; this is no less a heartland release for being still and quietly perceptive. At the heart of much Americana is the idea of letting it all hang out. Gillian Welch is not of a mind to let anything hang out, ever; but she and Rawlings have produced a classic of the genre.

Vinyl, LP

Tracklist:
A1 Scarlet Town
A2 Dark Turn Of Mind
A3 The Way It Will Be
A4 The Way It Goes
A5 Tennessee
B1 Down Along The Dixie Line
B2 Six White Horses
B3 Hard Times
B4 Silver Dagger
B5 The Way The Whole Thing Ends