Exposé Online banner

Exposé Online

Not just outside the box, but denying the existence of boxes.
Covering music from the fringes since 1993.

Reviews

Claire Hamill — A Pocket Full of Love Songs
(Bandcamp no#, 2022, CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2023-06-24

A Pocket Full of Love Songs Cover art

It’s been a while since we touched on singer Claire Hamill — 20 years, in fact, since her album Voices, reviewed in issue #24. Since that time, she’s released a handful of albums, done some guest singing with Wishbone Ash, and worked with a group called Fragile that seems to have been flying under the radar. A Pocket Full of Love Songs is her collection of “pandemic songs,” her artistic reaction to being isolated at home. It’s a set of eleven — you guessed it — love songs, examining various aspects of that most cherished of emotions. Hamill’s lovely voice is comfortable in these gentle folk-rock arrangements, and the songs themselves are well written. Any listeners who are familiar with her early solo albums might be disappointed by the rather pedestrian settings, which remain firmly in well-trodden territory, with acoustic guitars, pedal steel, and piano backed by a nondescript rhythm section. There are no touches of the folky psychedelia that made One House Left Standing so charming. I can’t fault the craftsmanship that went into making the album, but everything is so predictable and middle-of-the-road that I can only recommend it to die-hard Hamill fans or those who enjoy beautiful singing in a context that doesn’t have any rough edges.

Filed under: New releases, 2022 releases

Related artist(s): Claire Hamill

More info
http://clairehamill.bandcamp.com/album/a-pocket-full-of-love-songs

 

What's new

These are the most recent changes made to artists, releases, and articles.