Gwyneth Herbert’s sixth album, The Sea Cabinet, is a maritime-themed set of stories which gives the impression that a writer of traditional British folk songs has been reincarnated in the 21st century.
But then the 31-year-old Englishwoman has been described as “a singer-songwriter with one foot in the jazz world and one somewhere in the future, who writes beautiful melodies and has a poet’s grasp of the world around her”. She herself says the record should be on the shelf marked bluesyfolkypoppyjazzystorysongs — but, as usual, she’s only half-serious.
Herbert’s latest album is an imaginative and delicate blend of songs inspired by objects collected by a woman who walks a beach alone.
Each artefact is placed in a sea cabinet and supplies a song: the victory of the Fishguard ladies in Wales who, legend has it, saw off an invading French fleet by flashing their red petticoats; the chilling story of Alderney, the Channel Island used as a labour camp by the Nazis; and a tale of lost love inspired by the underwater village of Dunwich — Britain’s own “Atlantis”.
There’s also room for a boisterous tavern drinking song, the tale of a faded seaside hotel, a rockier tune playing with the myths of the Greek sirens and a part-wistful, part-bawdy romp concerning the delicious promise of a streetwalker’s wares. You’ll be able to hear the songs during Herbert’s summer tour of England and Scotland, which includes a headline performance at the Wiltshire Jazz Festival.
Developed during an artist residency for Aldeburgh Music, the songs were ripened on the Suffolk coast of eastern England, Herbert says, inspired by stormy morning walks, midnight dips and rum-soaked lock-ins.
“I like music that stokes a fire in your belly, starts a storm in your brain, punches you in the face and tickles you under the chin at the same time,” she tells TW+. “The Sea Cabinet may be a concept album, but I don’t want it to sound like I’ve got my head stuck up my arse. I want the experience of listening to it to be fun — because we had so much fun making it.”
