Album Review: Louise Jordan - TEMPVS (Azania Ltd)

Having only just made that all important decision to do music seriously as a career less than a year ago, Louise Jordan has already produced her first EP and now a full-length album made up of both self-penned material and traditional songs. Unafraid to express herself with an almost classical/retro-folk vocal delivery, not unlike Miriam Backhouse in the late 1970s or dare I say - purely as an immediately recognisable comparison - Julie Andrews, Louise expresses herself in a similarly clear, precise and unmistakably English fashion.  

Originally from Salisbury, this singer-songwiter accompanies herself on guitar, piano and cello, with a clear emphasis on the voice, which is prominent throughout. With one or two traditional songs including Lowlands of Holland and William Taylor, together with a fine musical adaptation of the powerful Thomas Hardy poem Without Ceremony, TEMPVS also features a handful of originals, each of which demonstrates Louise's penchant for writing in a distinctively traditional manner. Her re-working of the now familiar passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes, Omnia Tempvs Habent, previously delivered by both Pete Seeger and The Byrds as Turn Turn Turn, also shows a flair for adaptation.  

Produced by Louise herself and recorded this past summer, TEMPVS provides the listener with chance to hear folk songs performed in a manner seldom heard these days.   

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Audio Interview

Interview: Louise Jordan Northern Sky had a chat with Louise Jordan at the Shepley Spring Festival. By: Allan Wilkinson Published: 22 May 2011 - 12:00am Read more...