Shirley Collins has announced that her new album, Heart’s Ease, will be released by Domino on July 24.
It’s the follow-up to 2016’s remarkable Lodestar, which signalled her return to music after nearly four decades away.
Watch a video for the first single from Heart’s Ease, “Wondrous Love”, below:
The tune comes from an 18th Century English ballad about the infamous sea captain William Kidd, who was hanged for piracy in 1701. Collins first heard the hymn at a Sacred Harp Convention in Alabama (Collins and Alan Lomax recorded it on their field recording trip in 1959). She has decided to sing it now “because songs are stored in my memory for a great many years, and suddenly it seems the right time to bring them out again.”
Recorded at Metway in Brighton, Heart’s Ease features traditional songs from England and the USA, but there are also four new songs and even a burst of experimentation. Says Collins: “Lodestar wasn’t too bad, was it? But when I listen to it, it does sometimes sound rather tentative. I had to record it at home because I was just too nervous to sing in front of somebody I didn’t know. This time I was far more relaxed – even though I went into a studio.”
Peruse the artwork and tracklisting below:
1. The Merry Golden Tree
2. Rolling In The Dew
3. The Christmas Song
4. Locked In Ice
5. Wondrous Love
6. Barbara Allen
7. Canadee-i-o
8. Sweet Greens And Blues
9. Tell Me True
10. Whitsun Dance
11. Orange In Bloom
12. Crowlink