Blackpool-based singer / songwriter / painter Joanne Robertson’s latest long-player features 3 collaborations with Oliver Coates. Even without the cellist’s contributions the songs draw strong comparisons to the work of Arthur Russell. 

It’s to do with the intimacy of the vocals, the delicacy of the acoustic picking. All of it subjected to a “world of echo”, the “Blurrr” of the album’s title. The tone and the texture. The use of space. The reverb that of lo-fi, late night recordings, where the writer runs through hopes and ideas, for the benefit of not necessarily anyone but themselves. Sort of shyly needing to get them down. The results personal, private and dream-like. 

The voice is mic’d as if off somewhere in the distance, so the words aren’t always easy to discern. Quiet, a whisper, that still tires to fly, as the singer’s lonely heart seeks to soar. The emotions definite. The mood, while muted, often optimistic, positive. Other clear points of reference are Grouper, or an untreated Ian William Craig. 

Coates’ strings help to turn the faded and faraway Always Were into almost classical ambience. Last Hay starts with a sigh. Why Me has something county, a hint of Americana, in its muffled melody. Suggestive of a “wild west”. Riding box cars, a drifter, across a landscape of wide open plains and deserts. 

The songs, in fact, could quite easily lend themselves to some cool, indie soundtrack.* Something poetic, romantic. I listened while in transit, travelling alone, and the set suits thoughts of departure and arrival. Watching the world rush by the windows of trains and planes. Cities, scenery and timezones changing. Disappearing behind you. Uncertain, perhaps, of where you’re headed. 

*Do cool, indie films still exist?

Joanne Robertson’s Blurrr can be ordered directly from AD 93.