Jackie Oates: Gracious Wings assessment – mortality and different moods | Folks music

The paintings of folks singer and fiddle participant Jackie Oates’s eighth album depicts the harpy from Philip Pullman’s His Darkish Supplies saga who resides within the land of demise, listening to the tales of the deceased; what historic Greece termed a “psychopomp”. Pullman’s creation chimes with Oates’s present research at an Oxford hospice to develop into a music psychotherapist, singing to the terminally in poor health. Having misplaced her father just a few years again (an occasion addressed on her final album), Oates is now dealing with her mom’s dementia. This evokes one strand of Gracious Wings, notably on a touching cowl of Tom Waits’s Time, although mortality isn’t far off in conventional people music, as attested by variations of maritime ballad The Ship in Misery and the grieving Lament to the Moon.

The album captures a wide range of moods, nevertheless. Robin Tells of Winter is sparse and forlorn as a January daybreak, whereas Tammy Toddles celebrates childhood innocence and La Llorona, a duet with Megan Henwood, addresses being pregnant. As ever, Oates’s vocals are mild however mellifluous and she or he stays an expressive fiddler, given stylish help from bassist John Parker and accordion participant John Spiers, amongst others.

An affecting compendium from one in all people’s brightest abilities.