Kath Reade is a songbird, which perhaps a kingfisher is not (maybe someone can enlighten me on that). She has a lovely voice.

   I enjoyed writing that, as it’s simple and complete. The voice is used on a wide range of self-penned songs, with a little help in the playing and backing singing from Tom McConville, Rob Van Sante, Shaun Reade and Jean Deakin. But “She has a lovely voice” won’t fill a review nor, perhaps, tell readers enough, so here are elaborations.

   The voice is strong and she sings as though well within her range and power. She conveys a kind of truth in the singing of the words she has written, which suggests an engagement with the personae and the subjects, whether human beings, hawks or steam trains. There are at least a couple of tracks on which she reminds me of Claudine Langille, and I can’t pay her a higher compliment than that.

   There is a truth in what she sings which comes down to the voice, again: unadorned, intimate, and pure.

Belinda Hakes