Manchester’s most cherished female singer Lou Rhodes is back with her third album One Good Thing. For the first time in six years, she was again working with Lamb partner Andy Barlow and the album heralds the first release from Motion Audion, Cinematic Orchestra’s new label. During the recording process, Rhodes was dealing with the suicide of her sister, the ending of a relationship, and moving out of the city and into countryside isolation. The result is her finest, most reflective and brutally raw record to date. It was recorded solely in live takes, and with just one sensitive guitar, one romantic vocal and backing of baroque strings. That is all that is required for this honest and stripped down record.

Rhodes never reached the same status as Beth Gibbons from Portishead, but this record could be a classic with its genuine lyrics and understated production. One Good Thing has a folksy feeling, reminiscent of Nick Drake and John Martyn, and avoids the folktronica sound. Her melancholica and reflections are strongest on the track about her sister “Janey,” and on the closing track “Why Wait For Heaven” with the unforgettable lyrics: “People dying every day / To prove their God’s the only way / What kind of paradise would favor some and some deny? / Why wait for heaven till we die?”

True words from a true artist.

RELATED POSTS:

No related posts.