Eliza Carthy: Neptune – review

While her father, Martin Carthy, celebrates his 70th birthday, Eliza shows what she can do when she's not singing folk songs with her folks. Last year, she recorded the exquisite Gift album with her mother, Norma Waterson, but now she's back on her own, with her third set of self-written material. As with her 2008 album Dreams of Breathing Underwater, the variety is remarkable, and so is her vocal range. Almost every track has twists and turns or changes of pace, with influences that range from Kurt Weill to torch ballads, soul and reggae to music hall – with just the occasional folk reference. The songs are largely autobiographical, dealing with the past 10 years of her life, but with a hefty dash of social comment thrown in. They range from the stomping Blood on My Boots to the pained Monkey ("I wish I were single again"), both of which match pained lyrics against upbeat melodies. Then there's the quirky political comment of Carpark, in which the folk song The Oak and the Ash is juxtaposed with a frantic story of Britons leaving for Spain, eastern Europeans moving in and the country covered in tarmac. Then there's the thoughtful, drifting A Letter, the sturdy, romantic soul ballad Revolution and the poignant and personal Thursday. Her bravest, most original work to date.