Artist: Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo
Release:Dear River
Released: 2013
Label: Linn Records
Catalog#: DR-PROMO H098
Format: FLAC / Lossless / Log (100%) / Cue
Country: Australia
Style:Pop Rock, indie,folky



01. Dear River (03:20)
02. Tuesday (03:30)
03. Letters (04:15)
04. The Leaving (02:54)
05. Everywhen (03:56)
06. Sleeping Horses (03:03)
07. Ghost Narrative (03:25)
08. A Spadeful Of Ground (02:56)
09. The Cormorant And The Heron (04:05)
10. In The Winter I Returned (03:28)
11. The Blackwood (02:45)

Dear River is the fourth album from Australian UK-based singer-songwriter Emily Barker and her band The Red Clay Halo. Since the formation of The Red Clay Halo in 2005, Emily Barker and her band have crafted an acclaimed and illustrious career ΓÇô releasing three critically-lauded self-financed albums, selling out a string of UK, performing with Frank Turner at the London 2012 Olympics, and picking up BAFTA and Ivor Novello awards for writing duties on the themes to hit BBC dramas Wallander and The Shadow Line.

Dear River is the groupΓÇÖs first album release since signing with Linn Records in 2012. Produced by Calum Malcolm (The Blue Nile), Dear River sees Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo explo:X-XML: ring the themes of family, home, exile, and displacement through a blend of rock, country, and folk influences. Barker drew on her own story and the wider joys and sorrows gathered from her rigorous researches into the experiences of others when writing the songs on this album.

The albumΓÇÖs eleven tracks are intelligently-crafted ballads brimming with musical and lyrical ideas that resonate long after the album has reached the end of its run-time. While the album is best listened to straight through in one sitting, with the songs and their themes blending into a colourful musical tapestry, there are some definite highlights.

Album opener ΓÇÿDear RiverΓÇÖ is an excellent preview of what to expect on the album, introducing BarkerΓÇÖs clear and warm vocals, which blend with the strings, acoustic guitars, and percussion, building to a rousing second verse where the song t:X-XML: ruly opens up.
ΓÇÿTuesdayΓÇÖ and ΓÇÿLettersΓÇÖ are ponderous and poignant examinations of the albumΓÇÖs strongest themes ΓÇô those of emigration and displacement. Some of the heaviest emotions in these tracks are in fact conveyed by the glorious heart-wrenching strings, as much as through lyrics and vocals.