June Tabor

New June Tabor albums don't grow on trees (unlike the proverbial apples of the title). But, in different ways, each has proved well worth the wait, and this is no exception. Tabor has long been thought of as a merchant of unrelieved doom and gloom, and there's no denying that a number of her albums are full of shadowed material -- it's something in which she excels as a leading interpreter of traditional and contemporary songs. Yet this time out there's a lighter touch to the proceedings, thanks to Andy Cutting and his melodeon. "The Dancing," which opens the disc, shows him as a perfectly, sprightly foil for Tabor's autumnal voice. But it's still on the darker, heavier stuff that she truly excels, as with "Standing in Line" or "The Rigs of Rye." Perhaps because they're thrown into sharper relief by showing a variety of moods, her singing has rarely seemed so majestic, and she's not afraid to show it on the spare "Speak Easy." With the balance she's achieved here, Tabor has made a superb record. ~ Chris Nickson, All Music Guide