Album Review: Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler, For All Our Days That Tear The Heart

Even just on paper, Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler, is a compelling combination. One an astonishing Oscar-nominated actor, the other arguably the most influential guitarist of his generation: what could go wrong?. Thankfully, this wonderfully mysterious record rises to its star billing. It is very special.

Straight out the gate, ‘The Eagle And The Dove’, inspired by the writer Vita-Sackville-West, is an epic of flamenco, featuring Buckley’s towering vocal and a Dog Man Star-style arrangement from the ex-Suede man. That sense of daring continues apace with the title track, an entrancing mix of Gilmour-gilded guitar, Appalachian tones, musique concrète and English folk.

‘20 Years A Growing’ ambitiously incorporates Maurice O’Sullivan’s otherworldly 1933 account of life on the Great Blasket Island, and the exodus of its people across the Atlantic.

The smoky, cellar-lit ‘Seven Red Rose Tattoos’ is another atmospheric high point, while ‘Beautiful Regret’ – where the influence of Gram Parsons looms large – recalls Buckley’s outstanding turn in Tom Harper’s Wild Rose. Bernard Butler meanwhile provides another virtuoso arrangement on album closer ‘Catch The Dust’, which finds its protagonist wandering home alone, under the drizzling streetlamps. It’s a fitting way to conclude a thoroughly excellent album.

8/10