Another exceedingly classy album from the marvellous Caroline Spence.
Caroline Spence may not be a household name, but, for those in the know, a new album is always cause for celebration. Spence was featured in these pages as recently as June in our Essentials column; “Her four full-length albums are littered with absolutely glorious melodies, earworm choruses, sympathetic instrumental backing and unfailingly relatable lyrics, all sung in one of the most distinctive voices around, a sweetly expressive soprano with a ‘catch’ in it that Spence uses sparingly, not for effect but to express emotion in her songs.”
That perfect summation of Spence’s output to date can now be applied, rather conveniently, to the new album ‘Heart Go Wild’. The press release promises an expansion of her sound, something that pushes past Spence’s firmly established folk foundations into something more adventurous and wide-ranging. And, indeed, there is evidence of that expansion in tracks such as the loud and rockier ‘Soft Animal’. The fact that this and the up-tempo ‘Effortless’ were chosen as the first single releases off the album would tend to support that aspiration. While there are a number of more commercial-sounding tracks, easy on the ear with aforementioned earworms in evidence, these songs remain distinctively Spence in tone and nature. Matching ‘Effortless’ in this respect, ‘Fun At Parties’ is as good an example as any of this direction of travel.
That said, ‘Heart Go Wild’ maintains Spence’s reputation for wringing every emotion from the ballads that have marked her career to date. ‘Why The Tree Loves The Axe’ and ‘Heart Like A Mirror’ allow Spence to demonstrate her breathy and affecting vocal at its absolute, glorious best. And then there are the ‘growers,’ songs that build from their understated and pared-back beginnings into something bigger and memorable. ‘Where The Time Goes’ and the title track are gorgeous tracks that, on an album stuffed full of highlights, still manage to stand proud above the rest.
That Essentials piece, featuring as it did Spence’s Top 10 tracks, rather presciently anticipated a revision when this new album hit the streets. On ‘Heart Go Wild’, Spence has delivered that promised expansion in style, but it is a subtle and almost imperceptible shift. Spence’s talent as a singer/songwriter to be reckoned with remains, and there are plenty of contenders for a place in any top ten revision. The album is a fine addition to what was already a stellar back catalogue and deserves a place at the americana top table for 2025.
