Neptune

Folk stalwart Eliza Carthy returns – and on this occasion her strident northern vocals are combined with dramatic folk melodies, a British/Caribbean brass band, and a piano played by the ghost of Kurt Weill. With its mentions of road-rage, predatory women on the tear, Jerry Springer and featuring at least one image of a monkey riding a donkey, it is significantly more real and visceral than a thousand urban garage bands. And in songs like ‘Write A Letter’ Eliza takes folky melancholy to whole new and beauteous levels, as brass-chords and organs mournfully sustain. Ah, lovely.