Thursday, September 30, 2021

Albums of the Year # 87 Polly Paulusma - Invisble Songs

 


An altogether fascinating projec.t Invisible Songs: folk songs that influenced Angela Carter is just that. An accompaniment to a recently completed PhD on the same theme by Polly Paulusma, with interpretations of music that informed Carter's sixties writing.


Interspersed with readings from Carter's work, this is record that is not as forbidding as it might appear on the surface. The interpretations of Folk standards here are quite lovely reels and elegies, embroidered with quite beautiful touches, all the while faithful to the writer's  themes of the sensual and the grotesque.



Best heard at a single sitting Invisible Songs may take you back to the original texts, I'm sure it's intended to. But it works on its own terms wonderfully. The great tragedy of so many doctorates is that they are barely read. This one at least will be listened to and it successfully renders its findings immediate and thrilling.



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