Elle Osborne - Good Grief

* Tracklisting; 1. The Icehouse 2. Wise Eyes Wide 3. The Time of the Small Sun 4. The Boatman
* Elle Osborne was born on the North Sea coast of Lincolnshire where she was raised among folk singers, wrote songs
from an early age and, with the encouragement of Barry Dransfield, began accompanying herslef on fiddle.
* In the last year Elle has collaborated with Alasdair Roberts, appeared with James Yorkston and Spiers & Boden, and
shared stages with Cath & Phil Tyler and King Creosote.
* Inspired by the language and beauty of English folksong, Elle performs both her own songs and re-interpretations of
traditional songs, many of which she self-deprecatingly describes as 'songs nicked from my dad'. For Elle, themes and
melodies are deeply rooted in tradition and effortlessly combined with exploratory settings involving aural collage and
found sound.
* From John Mulvey's Uncut Wild Mercury Sounds blog:
"I was also introduced by another music journalist to a newish British folk singer called Elle Osborne. Osborne has an EP,
Good Grief, coming out this month, and the press release that comes with it presents her as pretty appealing: a quote
from Alex Neilson pitching her as a cross between Lal Waterson and Nico; some connection with Barry Dransfield;
support dates with Alasdair Roberts, James Yorkston and Cath & Phil Tyler. As the Nico/Waterson allusion suggests,
Good Grief is quite an austere listen, and there's a sense that Osborne is drawing lines between the drones and
atmospheres of the avant-garde and their ancient antecedents in the British folk tradition. Mostly, though, the four songs
here put the focus squarely on her quavering, earthy voice - I'd say her voice reminds me of Anne Briggs as much as Lal
Waterson, but this one's a good start to 2011.
* Wears the Trousers review:
"Hurtling into view like a flashing blue light down a suburban rat run is one of the first releases from excellently named
new label, Folk Police. Taking the familiar folk scene term of abuse for over-particular pedants and reclaiming it for
startling new music in a folk vein, their stall is set out with Elle Osborne's wyrd and wonderful Good Grief EP (remarkably,
her first release since her 2000 debut LP Testimony). The accompanying description of her music as a cross between Lal
Waterson and Nico is fantastically spot-on; on these four original tracks, avant-garde rock aesthetics melded with
traditional folk oddness to create something stark and unsettling. And while her cracked, yielding voice ensure that
Osborne's compositions are far from easy on the ear, they are blessedly shot through with moments of genuine
beauty.

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