Album Review / Tanya Brittain: Hireth

Here we are, in 2021, and the world seems stuck in the same chaos it was last year. But at least Celtic music holds the fort and flies the flag of better things!

The Changing Room is a Cornish folk act I’ve enjoyed a lot. Tanya Brittain is 50 % of that brill duo and Hireth is her first solo album. And it’s just the right album to open this year: all acoustic, supremely warm, with gorgeous melodies and her velvety alto voice and presence.

I would place Hireth – Cornish for homesickness, longing – in the singer-songwriter section of my music shelf as the songs are original. The feeling I get from this music is being on this fab singer’s gig in some very nice and small club, with rich wine in my glass and a fireplace crackling in the corner. Some tunes have lyrics in Breton and Cornish, some in English, and they all sound fine to me.

Many of the songs are either in 3/4 or 6/8 and I find myself waltzing through the album if it plays in the background in my home. It’s nice, the way this music flows and sways so effortlessly, sometimes with a sweet French flavor to it.

My favorites are Girl On The Northern Line, with its ”life as a journey” imagery getting a fresh, heartfelt treatment, and the really wonderful Breton-language waltz Genev Dons that appears also as the bonus track with English lyrics and title Dance With Me (Miss Havisham’s Lament). If I had an acoustic band here in Finland (alas, I don’t) I’d really like to play this waltz at the end of a gig; it’s a perfect finale for a very fine set of songs.

Do yourself a favor and support the artist – get your cd or digital copy of Hireth here:
https://www.trelawnysreach.com/shop