Hayley Ross – The Weight of Hope
Four years in the making, Brighton based Hayley Ross' debut album is sure to become one of the jewels of 2020. Three tracks from her EP 'Barracuda' have been given a quick re-polish, as has the acoustic lead from 2015's 'Fierce Love'. Together with nine brand new gems (mixed by John Leckie, and mastered at Abbey Road Studios), 'The Weight of Hope' is a shimmering collection, exploring themes of water, life and death, and nature, and navigating a portentous, but ultimately harmonious, channel.
Opener 'Dernier Baiser' featured recently in the Netflix series 'Destiny', triggering a stream of searches in response to its moody mixture of English and French lyrics, melancholic cello, and stormy backdrop of rainfall placed against a blackbird singing. The new season of 'Orange Is The New Black' opted for 'Tumbledown Love', with Ross' breathy vocals sounding like a countrified Black Box Recorder, or down-tempo Saint Etienne.
Elsewhere, 'Moving All Around' possess Morricone-like vastness, 'Come Back' generates a Phil Spector wall of sound, and 'Big Black Car' is decidedly funereal. Each one is jig-sawed against the watery mermaid-like longings of 'Barracuda'.
The advertising campaign for Guinness once famously promised, 'Good things come to those who wait'. A string of pearls like this is the reward for our patience.
8/10
