The tracks here were recorded in a small Glasgow studio and were originally earmarked as bonus tracks on a 'best of' album. When Reader decided the session was going so well the compilation idea was shelved and she and her band produced her 9th studio album in rapid time.
You might therefore hope and expect that the finished result would have a raw vitality but, instead, you get the impression that any flagging energy levels were revived by sipping tea rather than swigging whisky. For this is a chilled MOR collection of songs that is as inoffensive as it is unexciting.
Admittedly, Reader is in fine voice, at times evoking the lyricism of Emmylou Harris, but unfortunately she doesn't communicate any passion or urgency.
Many of the tracks were written by long standing song writing partner Boo Hewerdine, the best of which is 'Dragonfly' - a languid reflection on the transience of life : "As soon as we're here, we disappear".
There are two covers - Fleetwood Mac's 'Never Going Back Again' rendered as a folk waltz and an obscure Brian Wilson song - 'Sweet Mountain of Love' - originally released on his 1972 'Spring' LP.
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The problem for me is not that the songs are badly played or poorly recorded but that it's all rendered in a form that is as superficially tasteful and cosy as a glossy homes and gardens magazine.
There's nothing obviously out of place but, equally, nothing that gives a injection of life. Songs of dandelions, roses and shining stars belong to a nether nether land where love conquers all and where nature is universally inspiring.
The brief shades of a harsher existence on a song about looking for direction in New York City are quickly made lighter with cheesy lines like "Down in Union Square, You held me there".
Having been recorded in a tough city like Glasgow, she cannot be unaware of the existence a flipside to all this sweetness and light but this harsher reality never intrudes.
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