Fay Hield is the first new signing to Topic Records for a decade. Topic is the oldest independent label in the world, torch-bearer of British folk music through dark days and home to stalwarts such as Martin Carthy, June Tabor and Tim Van Eyken.  Fay Hield is Jon Boden’s partner – the mastermind behind Bellowhead and their fiddle player and singer.  So people could be forgiven for expecting something spectacular, and different, from Looking Glass. What Fay Hield delivers is neither; this is an album of mostly traditional songs, delivered fulsomely but without guile, by Hield with restrained fiddle, viola and concertina accompaniment.  Some she sings unaccompanied.  There is a nyckelharpa and some percussion, and one song is a Peter Bellamy setting of a Rudyard Kipling poem about Elizabeth I but that is as exotic and colourful as it gets.
So much the better.  Hield does what she does and what she does she does exceptionally well.  She is a singer who can carry not just a tune but a narrative.  ‘Kemp Owen’ for example is a convoluted tale of a transforming curse that twists through 21 verses but Hield makes the story clear.  ‘Little Yellow Roses’ is narrated from the point of view of a dying Spanish (or could it be American?) civil war soldier; its imagery is bright and spare and Hield makes it immensely moving by doing not too much. And she captures a lunatic jollity on ‘Mad Family’, in which the devil releases a deranged family from hell because he can’t bear their happiness.  Topic has made a wise decision here because not only is Hield a fine singer who gets the best out of her musicians, but her choice of material is interesting.  This is her debut and I think her voice will grow richer. But this is the work of a rich and mature talent.

Topic Records is one of the great English independent labels, yet it has signed no new artists for a decade. Now, at last, the label has had a change of heart, releasing this solo album by Fay Hield, the partner of folk star Jon Boden and best known for her role with the four-piece a cappella group the Witches of Elswick. All of which raises a lot of expectations, but this is a good, rather than exceptional, set. Hield is a fine technical singer, though the best songs here are those featuring the subtle accompaniment of Boden on fiddle, concertina and guitar, and his Bellowhead colleague Sam Sweeney adding viola, fiddle or the traditional Swedish nyckelharpa. The songs vary from the cheerful Mad Family or Grey Goose and Gander, where Hield sounds at her most relaxed, through to the narrative ballads The Banks of the Nile or The Shepherd's Daughter, which she sings well but they don't yet sound like great story songs she has made her own.

Unadorned – and quite exquisite – folk song.
It isn’t difficult to see why Fay Hield is the first new signing in 10 years to traditionalist independent Topic Records. A founder member of female a cappella quartet, The Witches of Elswick, Hield has traded their rumbustious performances for a more committed approach to an often obscure repertoire of traditional songs. Aided by Bellowhead’s Jon Boden and Sam Sweeney, their subtle accompaniment intensifies Hield’s elegant voice.  There is something of June Tabor’s cool purity on ‘Little Yellow Roses’ or Maddy Prior’s ringing clarity on unaccompanied ‘The Shepherd’s Daughter’ which suggests Hield is a rare talent.

Fay Hield’s solo debut album shoots her straight to the top of the traditional English folk tree, alongside such as June Tabor, Eliza Carthy and Kate Rusby. It’s thatgood. Mind you, she does receive exemplary accompaniment from herpartner and co-producer, the redoubtable Jon Boden of Bellowhead fame, and the equally proficient multi-instrumentalist Sam Sweeney.By her own admission, Hield takes inspiration from the classic British folk albums of the 1970s and 1980s, and the influence of the likes of Nic Jones, Peter Bellamy and Martin Carthy in her interpretation of standards such as ‘The Banks Of The Nile,’ ‘The Huntsman,’ ‘The Shepherd’s Daughter’ and ‘Sheepcrook And Black Dog’ is palpable, although guitar only figures on one song. Fiddle, concertina, viola and nyckelharpa (a traditional Swedish key harp) complement the singer’s powerful vocals and passionate delivery to perfection, depending on the song’s requirements. Jess Arrowsmith provides welcome harmony backup on ‘Grey Goose And Gander’ and ‘King Henry’, the latter augmented also by foot percussion.

Her debut solo album “Looking Glass” has caught the hearts and imagination of many critics. Tony Engle of Topic knew Fay was something special after hearing her classic voice and unusual selection of rare material, the selection of which appears to be a familiar focus in Fay’s circle. There are tunes and songs included on the album which may, and has, fooled some into thinking she has chosen some familiar songs. On a closer listen you’ll discover the different versions she has unearthed.

Aside from the songs and tunes, what really made this album shine for me was Fay’s voice and sparse arrangements. This could have been produced many years ago before we had the inclusion of commercial flourishes to folk that is so prevalent today. Fay’s voice has been compared to Anne Briggs…maybe if you cross that with June Tabor you get close but rather then try and apply some genetic musical make-up to her voice just accept it is unique and will certainly be one of her trademarks.

In short, this is a landmark album for Topic. Fay’s decision to not commercially compromise her music was a wise move. There is no need to. This album shines very bright and I hope this is the first of many albums from a remarkable talent!

The first new signing for a decade by the venerable Topic label inevitably focuses interest on this debut solo album by the Yorkshire singer formerly one quarter of the a cappella Witches of Elswick. There’s real depth and richness to her singing as she tackles a variety of challenging unusual traditional material from a slightly unhinged The Huntsman to an austere banks of the Nile (Bellowhead’s Sam Sweeney plays nyckelharpa!)

She’s what Topic boss Tony Engle calls “a real singer”... Her charged vocal indiscipline may occasionally invoke the name of Anne Briggs but otherwise she’s strikingly individual and Topic may be right in its assertion that it has discovered a rarefied talent. Her vocals certainly aren’t what anyone would call pretty – which may be a stumbling block to wider popularity in an age of honey throated whimpering – but admirably fits the brooding darkness of most of her chosen material... the adornment is still sparse and this remains an uncompromising album of old-fashioned folk values. It’s an album of real depth and substance... a magnificent advertisement for the unfashionable art of unaccompanied singing.  In the end its all about telling stories… and Fay Hield does it with considerable character.