Angie Hart is back with another record of sweet folk-pop that has lush strings, great arrangements and superb instrumentation iced with that distinct vocal that was so ingrained on people’s psyche during her Frente days.
Her warm hart (boom-tish) is filtered through the ears of producer Shane Nicholson, who has had much success with his album ‘Rattlin’ Bones’ with his wife Kasey Chambers. Nicholson has added some beautiful subtle touches throughout, giving Angie plenty of room to breathe.
The album opens with the comforting ‘There’s Nothing Wrong With You’: a sweet love song filled with metaphorical yearning and the loss of all sanity when you’re in love. “Empty handed/I’m standing without the need of proof/reasonable doubts pack a punch/there’s no question they do” she sings before getting to the refrain “There’s nothing wrong with you/nothing wrong with you.”
‘Funny Guy’ is a challenge to an unnamed potential partner suffering at the cruel hands of self deprication to rise up to the challenge of taking Angie’s hart (boom tish #2). “I don’t want a love letter/written by your clever friend/I don’t want sentiments/‘cause somebody said I’d like them/Come on funny guy/you’re the reasons I/am standing here/you’ve gotta believe,” she sings in an adorably blunt fashion.
Each song has a co-write with it as well. Artists such as Cam Butler, Charles Jenkins, Mark Seymour, Ben Lee and Pete Luscome have joined her with the pen and paper.
One of the Charles Jenkins tunes, ‘I Lead When We Dance’ is an upbeat ditty that shows the more dominant side of Hart’s personality - a duality that makes this album such a fantastic insight into what sounds like a woman who has fearlessly laid herself on the line.
Bonnie Prince Billy joins Hart for the country ballad ‘Little Bridges’ - a sad duet telling a tale of someone beaten down by others, only to receive Hart’s advice “it’s time to burn your little bridges and move on.”
If you grab the album quickly, you’ll also get a bonus covers EP, which features songs by The Smiths, Laura Veirs, Neil Young, Australian Crawl and The Triffids.
The full track listing is:
EAT MY SHADOW
There’s Nothing Wrong Wit You
I’m Afraid Of Fridays
Nullabor Plain
Funny Guy
Delicate
Ask
I Lead When We Dance
Simple
Glitter
Dark Days Over
Little Bridges (with Bonnie “Prince” Billy)
When You Sleep
COVERS EP
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (originally recorded by The Smiths)
Magnetized (originally recorded by Laura Veirs)
Only Love Can Break Your Heart (originally recorded by Neil Young)
Reckless (originally recorded by Australian Crawl)
I Want To Conquer You (originally recorded by The Triffids)
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