Upon a Stranger Shore

O’Connor is a member of a big folk family from Cumbria – her brother Joe’s band Last Orders won the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award a few years back. Now based in Cambridge, O’Connor was ‘found’ by Damien Barber of the Demon Barbers, when he mentored her in a subsequent Young Folk Awards. This is her debut album with guitar and double bassist Matthew Jones, and it also features her brother Joe on melodeon.

The songs are a mixture of well-known traditional numbers – ‘South Australia’, ‘Leaving of Liverpool’ and Woody Guthrie’s ‘Hard Ain’t It Hard’ – with self¬penned tracks such as the catchy ‘Whitley Bay. While many tracks deal with the hardships of transportation, exile and loss, the majority are essentially love songs. O’Connor has a soft, sweet voice, and she’s backed by unobtrusive musicianship, but the overall sound is a little too bland. Somehow these well-known favourites interspersed with sweet tales of heartache feel too comfortable and lacking in grit, and it’s hard to entirely believe the singer has lived the words she sings. You must wait to the final track for a distinct note of depth with the traditional tune to Robert Burns’ lyrics, ‘Caw the Yowes. This is the album’s high spot. For an edge and a sense of darker complexity, try Bella Hardy’s new release.