Alasdair Roberts, The Crook of My Arm - 44m

Tracks & Durations

1. Lord Gregory	4:50
2. As I Came In by Huntly Town	4:59
3. Bonnie Lass Among the Heather	3:41
4. The Magpie's Nest	2:02
5. Ploughboy Lads	1:54
6. Lowlands	4:14
7. Master Kilby	2:34
8. Standing in Yon Flow'ry Garden	3:51
9. Ye Banks and Braes O' Bonnie Doon	2:57
10. The False Bride	3:56
11. The Month of January	3:34
12. The Wife of Usher's Well	5:20

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Review

The past isn't that far away for Glasgow's Alasdair Roberts, who's also recorded three albums with his band Appendix Out. On his solo debut, The Crook of My Arm, he summons the characters from traditional English, Scottish, and Irish ballads. While Roberts admits to taking some slight lyrical and melodic liberties to satisfy the underground rock audience, he has come up with clearly respectful updates of songs sung by Shirley Collins, Anne Briggs, and Nic Jones. In a woeful but not overwrought voice, complemented by his soft acoustic guitar picking, Roberts evokes the nostalgic, sweet sentimentality of love lost and pain endured with a vulnerability in his throat that reaches to the heartstrings without a trace of malice. You may think you hear the footsteps of Will Oldham in Roberts's medieval forest, but that's only because Oldham--perhaps like all of us, whether we know it or not--has these timeless Celtic melodies carved in his DNA. Stark yet warm production lets the songs and Roberts's voice--thin, purposeful, and appropriately shy--shine. While listening you'll get the comforting yet bittersweet feeling that our stories are still much simpler than our culture would you believe: when you get down to it, it's all still about birth, life, and death--and if you're lucky, love. --Cyndi Elliott

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