Thread

"Folding glimmers of indie pop, drone music, and errant psychedelia into a sturdy base of Appalachian and British-inspired folk, Sally Anne Morgan makes her solo debut with the winsome Thread ... Morgan manages to breathe new life into her traditional material and match it with strong originals without ever going overboard in her experimentation. The result is a deeply engaging debut with hidden depths to discover".

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"Vibrant solo debut from American banjoist/fiddler: Followers of The Black Twig Pickers and House And Land, the latter alongside Sarah Louise Henson, will already be familiar with the abundantly gifted Morgan. Here she strikes out alone in style, using Appalachian folk to trace the interrelation between the modern and arcane. Reshaped traditional tunes - "Polly On The Shore" and the harsh, droning beauty of "Sugar In The Gourd" being standouts - find parallels in Morgan originals like the string-furnished "Ellemwood Meditation" and the deliciously airy "Thread Song", her voice complemented by Andrew Zinn's spidery guitar and a shuffling drum pattern from Nathan Bowles".

"Sally Anne Morgan is one of the central figures in a tidal movement among young(er) Appalachian and old-time folk musicians who draw upon deep knowledge of historical repertoire to create refreshingly contemporary acoustic music. Laced with rivulets of drone, ambient, psychedelic rock and jazz, Morgan's solo debut album, Thread, sounds like an afternoon meditation session on a back porch overlooking a blue-ridged mountainscape. Morgan, who also performs with House and Land, an avant-Appalachian folk duet, and The Black Twig Pickers, a progressive old-time quartet, wrote or arranged all of the music on Thread. The lighter-than-smoke intonation of her voice perfectly complements the music's graceful melodies, open harmonies and spare, minimalist qualities ... Infused with peaceful solace, thoughtful charm and cheerful ideas, Thread represents a welcome antidote for an anxiety-ridden era".