Liz Green – Haul Away!

In a recent interview, Liz Green described Haul Away! as more joyous than debut O Devotion, in that "lyrically not as many people die" – a deadpan assessment that confirms the darkly melancholic tenor of her storytelling. Staring out from the cover with face painted ocean blue, Green threads a nautical theme throughout Haul Away!, with titles referencing rivers and islands and a sea shanty feel to the title track’s swelling tempos.

O Devotion’s cabaret echoes persist, with Green deftly pitching her songwriting between the intimate and the theatrical: skeletal folk opener Battle beautifully exhibits the former, while the evocative creep of Where the River Don’t Flow supplies one of the album’s most ostentatiously dramatic passages. And, proving her appeal comes from more than her distinctive vocals and the narratives they serve, Little i interjects a swooning instrumental – a further flourish to an album that fully delivers on O Devotion’s promise. [Chris Buckle]