Jigdoll

The album begins with a soft low hum, then lyrical vocal layers build up, like cumulus clouds across a twilight sky. This is ‘First Lullaby’, the thrilling entry point into Hannah James’ first solo work. She's been touring her remarkable stage show over the past six months or so, and the album is a stunning showcase of James’ accordion, foot percussion and voice – hers is among the most beautiful and compelling voices raised into the folk tradition over the past decade or so.

Fusing traditions of song and dance with her own original innovations, James draws on personal history – her great-great grandfather was an itinerant music hall artiste – and her own travelling life as a performer. There's an explicit message in ‘Refugee Song’, which takes a broadside ballad about a refugee from England; James gives it one of the album's many great vocal performances. On stage, she has used pedals, loops and live instruments, while on record what is most striking is the beauty of the layered vocals, the mix of words and abstract vocalisations and the textures of her solo accordion on ‘Tuulikki's Tune’ or the following ‘Yodeling’. The voice-drones on the likes of ‘Treasures’ or the closing ‘Last Lullaby’ make for an utterly unique and extremely powerful musical statement.