Description

Nonesuch Records releases Natalie Merchants Keep Your Courage, her ninth solo studio album and first of new material since 2014s selftitled record.An eclectic album, produced by Merchant, it features two duets sung with vocalist Abena KoomsonDavis Resistance Revival Chorus, contributions from the Celtic folk group Luacutenasa and Syrian virtuoso clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, and horn arrangements by jazz trombonist Steve Davis. There are lush orchestrations throughout by seven composers including Gabriel Kahane, Stephen Barber, Colin Jacobson, and Megan Gould. Keep Your Courage comprises nine original songs by Merchant as well as an interpretation of Hunting the Wren by Ian Lynch of the Irish band Lankum.The vinyl LP edition of Keep Your Courage includes four bonus tracks from earlier albums, previously unreleased on vinyl.Merchant writes in her albums liner notes, The songs contained within this album were written and recorded during the global pandemic that began in the winter of 2019 and is in its fifth wave as I write, in the autumn of 2022. It has been, and continues to be, a period of great flux and fear on every level global, national, communal, familial, personal. But this is not an album about the coronavirus or the chaos it caused. For the most part, this is an album about the human heart. She continues, The word courage has its root in the Latin word for heart, cor, and we see it over and over in many languages le coeur, il cuore, o coraccedilatildeo, el corazoacuten. This is a song cycle that maps the journey of a courageous heart. Natalie Merchant Double-Vinyl is available for home delivery from Vinyl Records London, only £40 +P&P