Eliza Carthy always been uneasy about the floral frocks and sandals brigade on the folk circuit. She has wisely trodden a more idiosyncratic and eclectic path, proud to be part of the lauded Waterson-Carthy dynasty yet also determined to show that she is her own woman.
Neptune is yet another record that cocks a snook at any attempts at lazy pigeonholing.
These ten tough but tender tunes reveal as much affection for the good old days of British music hall as to the traditions of old time folk.
It opens with a rowdy barroom ballad Blood On My Boots wherein our raspy-voiced heroine is briefly star-struck ("I was drinking champagne with Jerry Springer") before she literally kicks out against the glitzy distractions and heads back to her roots. This song is probably inspired by her brief flirtation with a major label (Warners) and from it get the sense of liberation she draws from the fact that Neptune is out on her own Hem Hem Records.
Monkey ("How I wish I was single again") and Car Park are equally bawdy and upbeat tunes with a take no prisoners spirit. The latter is particularly noteworthy and destined to be a live favourite . It is a cross between Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi and Kirsty MacColl's Tropical Brainstorm relocated, respectively, in Yorkshire and Spain. Although it incorporates a traditional tune ('The Oak and the Ash') this is all but unrecognisable as the focus turns to commercial disregard for open spaces ("covered them in tarmac, sold the land to NCP") and revels in a party mood complete with a wild accordion solo.
War depicts the terrifying prospect of Northern lasses done up to the nines and on the rampage : "Tin hats on lads, there's going to be a fight" while tracks like A Letter and Tea At Five show a bittersweet lyricism and depth that you find it the brilliant songs of her aunt Lal Waterson.
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Meanwhile, Thursday and Hansel offer unconventional perspectives on parenthood ("you can't make any breadcrumbs if you haven't any bread").
Other tunes like Revolution ("I should have left him") and Romeo ("when will he love me again") fit in with Eliza's tongue in cheek statement that the album is basically just "me writing about boys".
Needless to say, Eliza is no blushing violet when it comes to affairs of the heart so never comes across as the self pitying kind. Any rage or resentment is effectively masked by the sprightly arrangements and /or the unexpected twists and turns of the songs.
Without a lyric sheet or background info, the autobiographical content is (no doubt deliberately) hard to pin down with any precision but Eliza's defiant and down to earth personality shines through regardless.
It's folk music, Jim, but not as we know it.
Eliza Carthy's Website
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