Julie Byrne – Follow my voice (from the album Not even happiness, Basin Rock Records)

Some pieces of music stand or fall on the singer’s voice.

That’s the way with the opening song on the new Julie Byrne album.

A voice of what though?

It’s in a not dissimilar register to Alela Diane in the mid range where you find a speaking voice.

But a different tone to that and with an appealing reedy tone to it as opposed to Diane’s bell clear quality.

The lines of swells and pauses filled only by acoustic strums and her voice and distant strings singing in the wind.

Not really a sound you would associate with New York. A hush. Not a rush.

And the line in the middle that stops you.

I’ve been called heartbreaker

Folk music with a distinct attitude hidden in its mild clothes.

A beautiful thing.