Fran Rodgers is another artist I’ve seen perform live on one of my numerous trips to the Brudenell in Leeds, and she’s invariably impressed me with the her songs and her magnificent singing. I’m not exactly an immense fan of folk (I’m perhaps understating here), but Fran has what I can only describe as a ‘classic’ folk voice, somewhere between Julianne Reagan around the time of All About Eve’s first album and, dare I say it, Maddie Prior.
Some of the songs on this EP I’ve heard before in her set, so it’s nice to hear the studio versions by way of a comparison (and the fact that ‘The Lighthouse’ and ‘I See Horses Flee’ have stuck with me over this time is noteworthy in itself). What’s perhaps most pleasing is that there’s very little difference. These recordings are simple, uncluttered and honest. The squeak of fingers on the strings is even audible as she strums and picks her way – in a style that’s clearly indicative of her formative appreciation of Leonard Cohen – through these five delicate numbers, and the harmonies – the same harmonies she achieves live with a repeat / delay pedal - are truly magnificent.
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‘The Protestor’ brings proceedings to an end with a simple but insistent percussion that lifts it further but without being in any way incongruous with the rest of the EP.
Like all classic folk songs, Rodgers’ are both narrative and mystically atmospheric. The imagery of boats sailing, etc., may not exactly be great innovations, but that’s simply not where this is at. Instead, she waves sadness and yearning for loves lost through tales of epic journeys over land and sea to the ends of the earth. In a time when female singer-songwriters with acoustic guitars really are ten a penny, Fran Rodgers is one artist that really does stand out with the sheer quality of her music and her clear talent.
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