Nell Bryden - Wayfarer (2014)

After surviving a disrupted childhood, several natural disasters and the stress of making it on her own, things are more than good for Nell. It all shows in Wayfarer, an album produced by Dario Darnell and Lorne Ashley Brigham Bowes (AKA Bicker Bros) and with the exuberant, sensual percussive energy of Fleetwood Mac or Cali girl-rockers Haim. Tracks blend subtle electronic beats with live instruments and Nell’s trademark Gibson guitar; her dark-brown voice is stronger and more eloquent than ever.
The album is seductively dancey. Nell: ‘There’s a different sense emotionally to where I’ve been in the past. Before, there was a lot of heartbreak, cry in your beer stuff that needed pedal steel all over the place.’ Big grin. ‘I don’t feel like that now.’

Title track Wayfarer kicks off with a euphoric punch, a motoring, light-hearted look at her travelling past. It’s the tale of a footloose nomad who’s finally home to roost, but has seen so much, and now it all makes sense. Perfect for Me is a joyous, almost reggaed-up shout out to love, a sunny mix of Labi Siffre, Crowded House and Eurythmics’ Angel. Or as Nell says, ‘It’s Lou Reed’s Perfect Day but without the heroin.’
Shadows In The Sun is an epic gunslinger, a speeded-up, reverb-filled Morricone beat with a vocal like a barefoot Dusty Springfield. Soundtrack, which races past before you can catch it, could be Lennox again, even Chrissie Hynde, and you’ll struggle to get that Bo Diddley beat out of your head. If there’s any justice in this doggone world, it’s the soundtrack for summer 2014.

There are songs, too, there have to be, about sadness and despair; then there are songs about Westbourne Park, where Nell lives with her guy, about Mardi Gras, and about the bluebird of happiness and love which, if you’re lucky, will stretch its wings in your heart. You even get a second CD, a stripped-back acoustic version of all these tracks that feels like Nell’s sitting right beside you.
Light and dark, sanctuary and loss, triumph, celebration and beauty. Don’t let this one get away.