Kathryn Williams

Kathryn Williams has the kind of voice that would drift away and dissolve, like a spiral of smoke, were it not tethered to substantial lyrical observations on the human condition, an abundance of which she appears to possess. The result, captured on her outstanding second album, Little Black Numbers (2000), and on her duet work with Neill MacColl (son of folk legends Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger), is music that delivers both the lightest and most profound of touches. Williams makes something from practically nothing, in Next Steps.

Williams' debut album, 1999's Dog Leap Stairs, was recorded on the almost unbelievably meagre budget of 80 quid, but its D.I.Y. origins — necessitated by the fact that record companies could not be convinced to offer the artist a shred of interest — seems to have enhanced the finished article, a bold and intimate folk collection highlighted by emotionally substantial, melodically gorgeous tracks like "Dog Without Wings".

Spectral like a wraith, yet weighty as a sod of dewy earth, the music of Liverpool-born Kathryn Williams is a highlight of the contemporary British folk landscape. The artist continues, as she started out, to release material on her own self-financed Caw record label, to which she also contributes her considerable skills as an illustrator — although a brief spell with major label East West/Warner Bros. would produce Old Low Light (2002) and the covers album Relations (2004). This selection of her most affecting tunes to date marks a confluence of sources from both sides of the Atlantic (Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell et al.), channeled through one highly original presence.