Music / folk

The longest river


Reviews (4)


PopMatters

d. 27. May 2015

By

By

Mark Allister

d. 27. May 2015

"Chaney follows "False Bride" with her own song "Imperfections," a piano ballad that would not be out of place on Joni Mitchell's great album Blue. And this is what's so incredible: Chaney can arrange and sing a song comparable to Baez's interpretation of traditional ballads, and follow with a Mitchell-like original that weaves a remarkable lyric and unique vocalization into a beautiful melody ... It's like we're back in the late '60s when Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell burst like supernovas onto the folk scene. There may not be the same possibility for commercial success as Collins or Mitchell had - the times are different - but Chaney is a major talent, whose record doesn't just suggest that there's greatness ahead. The record is great".


The observer

d. 12. Apr. 2015

By

By

Neil Spencer

d. 12. Apr. 2015

"It's a spare work, rarely using more than guitar and piano for her sharp but agile vocals, and adopting a neoclassical approach. Purcell's There's Not a Swain sits alongside the traditional False Bride and a trilling version of Alasdair Roberts's lovely Waxwing. Her own songs, including the acclaimed King's Horses and title track, can sound formal, but references to holiday parks, launderettes and Freud ground them, and her Joni-like vocal wanderings are never overstretched. An enchanting, stately creation".


Folk radio UK

d. 9. Apr. 2015

By

By

David Kidman

d. 9. Apr. 2015

"Olivia's been acclaimed as a major talent by media and critics, and naturally expectations have run high for the eventual release of a full-length album. Sensibly, she waited until she felt ready to do so, and luckily Nonesuch heard her at the right time. The resultant disc is intensely and yet impeccably wrought, also captivatingly sparsely clothed, and finds Olivia in splendid vocal form, certainly justifying the extravagant plaudits that had greeted her EP and demonstrating a significant advance over even that lofty standard of interpretation and delivery".


fRoots

2015 April

By

By

Colin Irwin

2015 April

"It's understated and surprisingly minimalist. When accompanying herself on piano sounding reflective and stark, there's something of a nascent Laura Nyro or even Regina Spektor about her ... She paints from a commendably broad palette - Purcell's There's Not A Swain, Norwegian composer Sidsel Endresen's Blessed Instant, a terrific treatment of Chilean Violeta Parra's La Jardinera (gorgeous Spanish guitar) and a slightly awkward interpretation of Alasdair Roberts' Waxwing. What really marks her out as a special talent, though, is the sombre quality of her songwriting - Swimming In The Longest River and The King's Horses (which carries an eerie reminiscence of Sandy Denny) have already been accorded plenty of attention ... A very fine debut album offering plenty of evidence that she will become a major artist".