One Light Is Gone
(Hatfish, released November 2010)
Josienne Clarke is an emerging talent on the London folk
scene. Although she took classical singing lessons as a teenager, hers is a
voice free of contrivance, husky in its upper register, well suited to the
singer-songwriter terrain she now occupies.
On this, her debut album, she’s accompanied by Ben Walker, a
guitarist with a technique to die for. He studied classical guitar before
moving to folk fingerstyle in the manner of Jansch or Renbourn. As well as
doubling on mandolin, he supplies discreet string arrangements on several
tracks.
Sometimes – ‘Midnight Moon’ is an example – Clarke can sound
like the omnipresent Laura Marling, but in general her sympathies, and her
careful diction, are closer to the 60s and 70s sirens she admires. I hear Linda
Thompson; I hear Shelagh McDonald.
She has trad songs in her repertoire, but this debut album
is all her own compositions. The title track is a wistful ballad vaguely
reminiscent of the Thompsons’ ‘Dimming Of The Day’. ‘Done’ circles round
unassuming guitar arpeggios. In contrast, ‘All My Truth’ is jaunty and
bluegrassy, evidence that Clarke is no one-trick pony.
I know her to be an engaging live performer. This album can
only win her new friends.
