Evocative words painting a vivid picture of a relationship, accompanied by lush and sensuous music.
“common thread” is Glaswegian Pippa Blundell’s debut album, and comes after her 2023 EP “sisters”. She wrote all the songs and then shared the production with her guitarist, James Mackay. Together, they have done a great job in crafting an album with a wonderfully lush and sensuous sound. She cites folk singers Anna B Savage and Laura Marling as influences, and these influences are easily discernible. However, you are also strongly reminded of Enya with her mystical and ethereal music.
Blundell’s vocals are strong and beautiful. They are not unlike Sade’s, and the guitar on the album also quite often has the nice, low-key jazzy feel of Sade’s music. Excellent backing performances are provided by Mackay, Alex Palmer (drums), Norman Villeroux (upright bass) and Ross Taylor, with swirling piano that adds so much to the music. Blundell also contributes guitar on most tracks.
The sensuous music is matched in the lyrics, which mainly concern the highs and lows of her long-distance relationship with her partner in southern France. The strong emotions involved are portrayed vividly as is the world around her. ‘patience for the people’ is a description of domesticity but with her senses alive to her surroundings: “cuddle on the sofa/ faces getting closer/ smelling soap of jasmine/ fingertips on my skin”. Here, as in other tracks, there is gentle picking of guitar and Blundell’s almost whispered harmonies added to her main vocal. In ‘lay in my land’ she recalls her lover, “well, it’s so good to stay with you/ …now you’re miles away/ i remember the shape of you/ left in dents where we lay”.
Other musical highlights are the swinging ‘crave’ and ‘will to take’ with its lovely looping jazzy guitar riff. Here again, there are heightened descriptions of her life: “cigarette filter tips/ empty mugs leave coffee rims/ my mobile phone vibrates/ and i can’t find the will to take it”. ‘doing good’ is addressed to a friend using hard drugs and has Taylor on harmonium as a very effective ambient backdrop.
The album finishes movingly with ‘love her’, apparently about her yet unborn child: “watch my belly as it grows/ as it homes a new turmoil/ everything is changing, the leaves begin to dry/ but i will always love her/ till i lay this body to die” She finishes the song with some wise spoken words about comparing ourselves to others and thinking that we are not good enough, when what we do is more than enough, if we look clearly.
Blundell has rightly gained praise from people such as BBC Radio 6’s Emily Pilbeam and BBC Radio Scotland’s Vic Galloway and Roddy Hart. She seems to be very talented, both at songwriting and performing, and looks to have a very bright future ahead.
