We have on a couple of occasions, via Mrs Mackerel’s friend Jenny Wren, been fortunate to meet St Etienne’s Sarah Cracknell who in local parlance “lives round our way”.

So when we found she is about to release her second solo album Red Kite, a mere eighteen years after her first, Lipslice, and that it was a love letter to nature and the formative music of youth, we were more than intrigued. Recorded locally, the title makes sense as Red Kites are now a common site soaring over our countryside after being reintroduced between 1989-1994.

But enough of that, because the first taste from it is On The Swings, and from the moment the lone clarinet announces it, a more gorgeous slice of hazy, pastoral psych-folk would be hard to find this side of 1969. A poignant waltz with nods to the more gentle side of the free-love era, her lovely, unhurried vocals are infused with a gentle melancholy that transfixes and effortlessly transports you to a beautiful meadow on a sunlit spring evening.

Wonderful stuff. Have a listen and pre-order the album from Amazon here.

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