Over a year since The Delta Bell released her debut single ‘Wasted’, the sultry vintage songstress has finally set a release date for her debut album ‘Bow Out of The Fading Light’. Due July 27th, the 11-track record is a collection of soulful, bluesy alt country with infusions of traditionalism, 60s flair, gospel and edgy folk roots. The woman behind The Delta Bell, Brighton, UK-based singer/songwriter Kate Gerrard, exudes a kind of whiskey-soaked swagger, at times stripping away her layers for a vulnerability that pierces the heart, but always owning the proverbial stage in a quietly commanding fashion. Her voice alone is captivating in its own right, featuring the kind of powerful, soulful huskiness usually found in African-American women who have been raised in gospel choirs in the Deep South. That voice, dripping with darkness and melancholy, underpinned by an inherent understanding of emotion, takes us through each track with enough elegance to exert beauty, and enough imperfection to draw a sense of harsh reality.
‘Bow Out of The Fading Light’, despite its plethora of influences, is rooted primarily in a raw folksiness against a backdrop of country and Americana instrumentation. This can be found at the meaty heart of the record, from the gentle plod of simple love song ‘Strings’, to the bluesy off-beat of romantic gesture ‘Every Tonight’, and pedal steel-driven swagger of ‘I’ve Seen The Way’ which criticizes a lover who didn’t give her a fair perception of real love, instead kicking her to the curb. She sounds at home on these acoustic-led tracks, her unique voice catching on the melodic about-turns and drifting away like cigarette smoke on the high notes. But Kate also excels in other styles, and the gospel call-and-response on semi-Celtic opening track ‘Carry Us Home’ is a slice of healing redemption which immediately draws us in. The peaks and troughs of the tracks are particularly compelling, weaving in multiple elements beyond one such genre or style to the point where we’re not sure where one starts and another begins.
The same can be said for ‘Forever Yours’, which incorporates a Motown-esque, doo-wop style of harmonies to pull the chorus into a sweet spot beyond the slow, reflective alt country of the verses. It is not quite one thing or the other; instead we find ourselves lost in a wash of sounds that can only be The Delta Bell. The harmonium adds another strand to this mix on ‘Of Mist’, creating an eerie southern gothic frame to display a poetic painting, rife with vivid imagery and a troubling suspense. She continues this sense of poeticism throughout the record in order to deal with the array of emotions on offer; from rich love and desire to desperate loss and heartbreak, we feel every ounce of life experience as her voice echoes from the shadows, gazing towards the light with wonder and considerate reflection. She plays with notions of religion (‘Churches’) and death (‘Lay Him Down’) to give birth to other narratives, but brings everything to a sweet, lilting close on ‘Until The Night’, walking the dry, open plains bruised and beaten, but alive. Perhaps more alive than ever.
‘Bow Out of The Fading Light’ has been a long time coming, but the result is far more nuanced and with more understated honesty than I could have hoped for. On this album The Delta Bell takes us away from her Brighton home and transports us to somewhere deep within the American South, colorful and detailed, relaxing and yet compelling at the same time. Backed by her five-piece band, Kate Gerrard has constructed a soundscape and a world of her own, and ‘Bow Out of The Fading Light’ hardly has to convince us to stay a while.
