Album Review: Radie Peat, No Human Tongue Can Tell

So utterly unique is Radie Peat’s voice – whether it be when she’s singing on award-winning albums with Lankum, or experimenting with doom-folk group ØXN – that there are many who would happily listen to her sing the phonebook. I count myself among them, so a solo album was always going to be an easy sell.

No Human Tongue Can Tell sees Peat doing what she’s always done best: bringing old folk songs to life in innovative, sometimes devastating, ways. Embracing drums and guitars for a post-punk-meets-folk sound, Peat selects murder ballads and love songs from the folk tradition. Thematically, then, the album raises questions of suffering and desire, femininity and anger.

The song choices span decades, from well-established folk ballads (including a more intimate version of ‘Willow Garden’, previously recorded with Lankum) to modern variations, like an interpretation of 'Same Old Man' (covered by Karen Dalton, and, more recently, Joanna Newsom).

Radie’s sound is also expansive; while the latter half of the album has slower, atmospheric material reminiscent of Lankum, the opening section moves stunningly from baroque-folk on ‘Hares On The Mountain’, to post-grunge on ‘The Moon And Stars’.

Superb stuff.

9/10