Between Me and the Wardrobe explained

Between Me and the Wardrobe
Type:studio
Artist:Gwyneth Herbert
Cover:Between_Me_and_the_Wardrobe.jpg
Released:2006
Genre:Jazz
Singer-songwriter
Length:43:06
Label:Monkeywood Records; reissued by Blue Note Records
Prev Title:Bittersweet and Blue
Prev Year:2004
Next Title:Ten Lives
Next Year:2008

Between Me and the Wardrobe is the third album by British singer-songwriter Gwyneth Herbert and her first album to consist entirely of her own songs. It was released in 2006 on Herbert's own Monkeywood Records label and reissued in 2007 by Blue Note Records. A review in The Observer gave the album a five-star rating.

Production and release

After she left Universal Classics and Jazz to pursue a less commercial and more personal musical direction,[1] [2] [3] Herbert collaborated with Polar Bear's Seb Rochford in a production role for this album.[4] Self-financed by Herbert, it was recorded in three days and was never intended for general release.[5] It was initially released, in 2006, on Herbert's own Monkeywood label before being picked up by Blue Note Records, making Herbert their first UK signing in 30 years.[6]

Reception

In a five-starred review for The Observer, Stuart Nicholson said that on Between Me and the Wardrobe Herbert "lets the lyrics do the work for her. They are well thought out, moving between artfully constructed soft-focus simplicities to poignant yearning".[7]

Colin Buttimer, writing for BBC Music, said: "stories are very much to the fore, in fact many of these songs are compacted narrative jewels... The music is oak-like, rich and weathered... Seb Rochford, best known as the strikingly hirsute drummer for Polar Bear, Fulborn Taversham and Acoustic Ladyland, is responsible for a production that’s stripped-down, but full of unexpected and highly rewarding details".[4]

John Fordham, in a review for The Guardian, said: "Herbert's originals (all the pieces are hers) connect more with Janis Ian or Rufus Wainwright than the standards the subtly intelligent Herbert at first seemed destined for. Jazzers might be foxed by Blue Note's endorsement of this low-key, folk-inflected and very personal vision, but... the lyrics gleam with individuality... and though the tunes could have used a few more twists and turns, it confirms that Herbert is light years from the whisper-in-your-ear Krall clone some dismissed her as".[8]

Track listing

No Title Lyrics and music Length
1"Lay You Down"Gwyneth Herbert2:58
2"Whisper Low"Gwyneth Herbert4:07
3"The Woman meets the Wiseman"Gwyneth Herbert2:06
4"Midnight Oil"Gwyneth Herbert3:35
5"Little Girl"Gwyneth Herbert3:33
6"The Morning After"Gwyneth Herbert4:43
7"Slow Down, Brother"Gwyneth Herbert4:49
8"That's the Kind of Man"Gwyneth Herbert3:48
9"In the Meantime"Gwyneth Herbert4:15
10"Sweet Thing"Gwyneth Herbert3:41
11"Turn it Off"Gwyneth Herbert5:05
12"Going for a Song"Gwyneth Herbert5:38Total length = 43:06[9]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Gwyneth Herbert: the door-to-door diva. Fordham, John. John Fordham (jazz critic). 4 August 2009 . 25 April 2011 . The Guardian.
  2. Web site: Gwyneth Herbert Quartet. April 2009. 25 April 2011. Oxford Jazz Festival. https://web.archive.org/web/20091114235352/http://www.oxfordjazzfestival.com/artists_GwynethHerbert.html. 14 November 2009. dead.
  3. News: Second life: What happens when Next Big Things fail to hit the big time? . . 14 April 2013 . 16 April 2013 . Holly Williams (British writer). Williams, Holly.
  4. News: Gwyneth Herbert Between Me And The Wardrobe Review . . 3 August 2007 . 18 February 2013 . Buttimer, Colin.
  5. News: Gwyneth Herbert: The one that got away. Perry, Andrew. The Daily Telegraph. 8 December 2007 . 11 June 2011.
  6. So what exactly lies between Gwyneth Herbert and her wardrobe?. Grundy, Rebecca . Durham University. Durham First. Spring 2008. 24 . 6 February 2016.
  7. News: Gwyneth Herbert, Between Me and the Wardrobe. Nicholson, Stuart. The Observer. 12 August 2007 . 26 September 2012.
  8. Web site: Gwyneth Herbert, Between Me and the Wardrobe . . 14 September 2007 . 10 July 2014 . Fordham, John . John Fordham (jazz critic) .
  9. Web site: Gwyneth Herbert:Between Me and the Wardrobe . . 6 October 2018.