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After a year away, Laura Veirs returns for her eighth album, Tumble Bee, with a change of target audience. The Colorado-born artist recently had a child with the producer of her last six albums, Tucker Martine, and Tumble Bee is presented as “Laura Veirs sings folk songs for children”, a collection of old American and English folk songs, primarily recorded for their son.
Veirs varies between bedtime slow tunes and more upbeat catchy songs on Tumble Bee, with some of the slower songs reminiscent of Mazzy Star’s work, especially 'Prairie Lullaby', which has an almost 40s laid-back feel. Simple harmonies are strong throughout; banjo, violin and acoustic guitar bring a distinctly American country music feel to Veirs’ usual folksy style.
Having swapped her usual haunting melodies, evident in songs such as 'Wrecking' (from her Saltbreakers album), for high energy clapping beats, Tumble Bee can sometimes feel like a nursery school exercise in repetition. 'Jump Down Spin Around', an adapted work song, is essentially one chorus over and over again, which Veirs sings over or between, and the result is a slightly dizzying fast track that must have taken numerous tries and a lot of patience to record.
Tumble Bee’s selection of song and folk history is fairly extensive – 'Soldier’s Joy' is a Civil War song, 'Jamaica Farewell' a calypso, and 'All the Pretty Little Horses' is a traditional African American lullaby which originates in the south of the United States. Martine and Veirs have dug heavily into the history of their genre and come up with some tracks that date back to the 1500s, some of them forgotten, some of them remembered, and Veirs has reworked them with the help of several collaborators, including Jim James of My Morning Jacket and Colin Meloy of the Decemberists. While each song has its own charm, fans of Veirs’ previous material may find themselves disappointed with a lack of truly original tracks. Despite this, Veirs still showcases her tuneful vocals throughout the album, ranging from gentle harmonisation with other voices to her distinctive own sound.
With catchy lyrics throughout and a distinctly summery feel to the whole album, Tumble Bee is an album that’s good to have on hand to perk up your mood, but it is definitely a Marmite album: either you’ll love it, or it’ll set your teeth completely on edge. It’s perfect for car trips over summer holidays or perhaps even John Lewis adverts, but anyone without children, or who’s more used to Veirs’ previous albums, may not find it exactly their cup of tea.
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