In his review of Elle Osborne’s third album, It’s Not Your Gold Shall Me Entice, Thomas Blake concluded:
“With songwriting like this it is hard to believe that it has taken Osborne so long to begin committing her own material to tape. We can only hope she doesn’t stop there.”
The good news is that the Brighton-based singer, sound artist, fiddle player and composer, Elle Osborne, has just announced the release of her fourth full-length album If You See a Rook on Its Own, It’s a Crow.
We have the pleasure in sharing the video for the album opener “Birds of the British Isles”, also our Song of the Day, from which the album also takes its name – a piece of advice from her father, it’s not only a memorable, head-turning phrase, but an indication of the content of the album.
The accompanying press tells us that this is a collection where Elle Osborne lays her cards on the table. She is aware of her shortcomings – where her knowledge falls down, where her patience runs dry – but, more importantly, she knows her strengths and she will rely on those to make her way in the world.
And her strengths are plenty. Sonically, this is an album that demonstrates her varied musical interests and weaves them together without it feeling forced or fused. And thanks must, in part, be paid to engineer Joe Watson (Stereolab) for this. Elle and Joe met at the University of Sussex and shared admiration for notable producers brought them together for this project. His influences bring light to some of Elle’s bleaker themes, while their shared approach to ambience and detail – playing with contrasts and dynamics – aids the world-painting and storytelling. Musicians featured include Alex Neilson (Trembling Bells, Alex Rex), and Stephen Hiscock (Mark Eitzel Band, The Globe), Alice Emerson (Alice Mary) and Alasdair Roberts (The Furrow Collective).
Of Birds of the British Isles, Elle tells us:
“Birds of the British Isles is the first piece I wrote after my life took a massive swerve a couple of years ago – realising some of the things I’d achieved, but some of the beautiful simple things which I hadn’t – like not knowing all the birds in the pony field, despite my Dad giving me a Birds of the British Isles book.”
If You See a Rook on Its Own, It’s a Crow is released on 5th June 2020 via 9th House Recordings / 9th cd3.
We’ll be bringing you more on the album soon.