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Edge of Spring is the best of Sally Doherty & the Sumacs. An essential collection of incomparably exquisite songs from the angelic voice of Sol Invictus, covers all albums and offers three new tracks to bring springtime into your stereo year round...
"The Edge of Spring" is a collection of 17 songs by Sally Doherty, a Sheffield / UK based artist that worked in the past with Sieben, Sol Invictus and Planet Funk amongst others. She's also very close to Richard Hawley, who's musicians are also Sally's live-band in Sheffield.
With her warm and intimate voice, soaring and operatic at times, and accompanied by a variety of instruments from gentle piano to baroque string ensembles to Spanish guitar and percussion, Sally Doherty is one of the most outstanding singer / songwriters and will appeal to anybody who enjoys the music of Kate Bush, Lhasa or Antony and the Johnsons.
the CD comes as a deluxe digipack, and each order contains a lovely mini postcard with a picture of the artist.
Strange Fortune listener reviews are a free space to share your impressions of the music.
Michael J. Salo says on 23 Nov 2006
My enthusiasm for the sound of the best female vocals knows no bounds, and one of my most beloved female vocalists I have come across in my musical discoveries is Sally Doherty.
Many Strange Fortune customers know Sally for her welcome contributions to the dark folk projects Sol Invictus and Sieben, and in Europe her vocals have lately reached thousands of ears via the successful Italian dance pop group Planet Funk.
Yet what amazes me is how few have yet discovered Sally's solo music, with her band the Sumacs, where her talents shine most brightly. We are doing what we can to help get the word out, but as of now her body of work stands as a largely undiscovered jewel.
Thankfully this compilation has come along, offering an easy entryway for what must be a good number of curious fans of her more famous projects.
The title of _Edge of Spring_ and its intricate green pattern design strike me as perfectly suited to the music of Sally and the Sumacs, with its calm, natural feeling, while at the same time full of the urgency of life. It makes for an alluring package.
Diving into the music we find 17 tracks spanning all of her solo and Sumacs group albums from 1995-2005, including three songs from the last album recorded which is as of yet unreleased.
The elegant, shadowy, richly layered, folk- and classically-influenced songs of Sally Doherty and the Sumacs might be vaguely categorized under an umbrella of "folk noir." There are few obvious influences or parallels with other groups, although Antony and the Johnsons' band occasionally comes up as a musical comparison, while Sally's songwriting might be linked more to artists such as Kate Bush.
Every song you will find in this collection is so sincere and creative, so well played and well put together, and just so strong all around that I'm confident no new or old listener with taste can be disappointed.
It's an inevitable minor point of debate anytime a "best of" album is unveiled, yet I admit the track listing doesn't happen to come out exactly as I might have chosen myself.
They emphasized the right material overall, in particular the best album, _On the Outside_, is most represented with five tracks.
_Edge of Spring_ even begins with the same opening song as _On the Outside_, which confuses me a little as to which CD I've hit "play" on. From there the compilation doesn't proceed in any strict order, it drifts this way and that, which works well overall for flow.
It's just this reviewer happens to be one of those exceedingly logically-minded music fans who likes compilations in chronological order, or I start to feel lost – although I can understand why artists may be less fond of such a presentation, as it puts their oldest work up front.
The new tracks on _Edge of Spring_ are lovely, especially the standout "O Caminho" which shows Sally growing ever more comfortable in Latin form. It whets my appetite for the rest of the material from the same sessions. Another potential masterpiece on the level of _On the Outside_?
As another point that applies to compilations in general, it might be noted some of these tracks lose a touch of their potency outside of the proper context on the original albums. Although you have several tracks of _On the Outside_ collected here, it doesn't replace the need to acquire that album as well, in order to get fully immersed in the recording the way it was meant to be.
As one notable omission, _Edge of Spring_ opts to leave out the "Wicker Man" song of _On the Outside_, an utterly essential wyrd folk delight. Again, don't miss out on _On the Outside_.
In summary _Edge of Spring_ is a much-needed release that provides everybody intrigued by Sally Doherty's role in Sol Invictus or Planet Funk – along with all enthusiasts of the best female singer-songwriters and the best creative folk noir – a taste of a discography of exquisite music from a singular talent.
Perhaps this will be the one to hook you in at last?
Narsheptha says on 24 Nov 2006
I’m not sure why I resisted Sally’s solo work for so long. I knew how good she was from her work with Sol Invictus. Maybe I was afraid that her solo work would be sickeningly sweet, obnoxiously operatic or terribly over-produced and “typical” like many of today’s female vocalists.
Thankfully, I was wrong. This collection gives a broad overview of her past ten years of work with her band, the Sumacs, which now I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting.
If you’ve ever been curious, yet hesitant, thinking a female vocalist’s solo work wouldn’t be up your alley, try this album. There’s some very impressive instrumentation from the Sumacs and Sally’s voice is well worth a listen, even for the craziest noise-loving lot of you out there.
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