Nancy Elizabeth – Dancing

Arguably her most elaborate offering to date, Nancy Elizabeth’s third album Dancing pushes the Lancastrian singer-songwriter’s neo-folk muse into freshly baroque territories. It shares with predecessors Wrought Iron and Battle and Victory a nuanced atmosphere pitched between maudlin and inspiriting, while further continuity is provided by Elizabeth’s lyrical flair, with words given extra resonance by her seraphic tones.

But where in the past her simpler songs were afforded ample space to bloom, Dancing is marked by busier arrangements – diminishing a key strength, though luckily introducing others in its stead. While piano remains her base instrument, it’s rarely left to carry a song; for instance, The Last Battle’s gothic beauty stems from rippling harp flourishes, while Heart is buoyed by brooding snippets of synth. But most often, the crucial component in these compositions is a rich cloud of layered vocal sighs, which swoop and soar to hypnotic – if not always singular – effect. [Chris Buckle]