Wrought Iron

VINYL FORMAT. Like true wrought iron, they rarely make them like this anymore. Nancy Elizabeth employs a fresh instrumental palette for Wrought Iron - including guitar, glockenspiel, vibraphone and a hundred-year-old Dulcitone - building the album around her instrument of choice, the piano, and her warm, unaffected voice.

This album is as much influenced by the minimalism of Arvo Part and Steve Reich as by the choral harmonies of Judee Sill and the bare expression of Leonard Cohen's early records. One might catch a glimpse of another of Elizabeth's influences, Mark Hollis, on "Bring on the Hurricane," with its gentle guitar intonations, bold piano, and building dynamic. The spare but evocative use of Matthew Halsall's trumpet on the album's musical centerpiece, "Lay Low," Is an uplifting addition to the earthy guitar and hand claps, while on "The Act" Elizabeth reveals a different side of herself, all bluesy sensuality and arching ardour, with train-track harmonica and a loose guitar rhythm.