Track Listing

1. Hole In The Heart
2. I'm Gonna Do It All
3. Daisy
4. Maybe There's A Road
5. Where The Smoke Blows
6. Holy Moses
7. Don't Know Why
8. Take Its Own Time
9. I've Seen It All
10. Baleerie Baloo
11. Terminal Star
12. Follow The Heron

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1769 in Music
• Released on: 2006-04-10
• Number of discs: 1

Mail On Sunday
An intelligent lyricist - this is a beautiful collection of songs.

Mojo Magazine
"Silken voice and heart of steel, a Stephen Pollakoff of songcraft righteous and beautiful." 4 STARS

Word Magazine
"A KT Tunstall crossover surely beckons."

Customer Reviews

All gentle, but not all the same.
I didn't know Karine Polwart, but got this CD on the strength of reviews and recommendations. Karine has a light, lilting voice, and her Scottish accent comes across, which I like. Nearly all of the songs are of the gentle variety, but that doesn't mean they are all the same. Some are gentle/melancholy (Baleerie Baloo, I've Seen It All), some are gentle/whimsical (I'm Gonna Do I All, Holy Moses, Take Its Own Time), and some are only gentle on the surface, but really biting underneath (Daisy, Maybe There's A Road). As well as the soothing voice, there's some lovely string playing, especially on Terminal Star. Where The Smoke Blows is the only song that you could really call upbeat, and its the one that works least well for me; perhaps it could have been left out. (I think it's the S word that bothers me. Was it really necessary? It's the sort of thing that could alienate a lot of people who would otherwise love this kind of music.) That apart, I really liked this album, and look forward to hearing a lot more of Ms Polwart in the future.

Caledonian Country
Karine Polwart is one of the new wave of Scottish folk artists whose popularity and influence extends well outside of the Scottish border. Think, Roddy Woomble ,the Idlewilder whose album 'my secret is my silence' Karine guested on. King Creosote, James Yorkston, Jackie Leven et al. A powerful force of nature which sees Karine firmly established as an articulate voice within this celtic strand of Nu-Folk .
But is it pure Folk ? Purists might argue that Karine's wide ranging songs have a very strong country influence, albeit of the Caledonian hue. But isn't country and folk all part of the same roots bag ?
Whatever....the Polwart voice is sweet and true and her musicians provide sharp, crisp backing creating a most engaging end product.
Feted in the folk world for her imaginative lyrics and 'right on' approach to worldly matters, Karine with 'Scribbled' carries on from the award winning 'Faultlines' with something even better.
A disc for all seasons.

Intelligent Folk
I came to this obviously after the Folk awards and looking into what is generally termed modern/celtic influenced music. I was really pleased (and surprised) to find, similar to Kate Rusby some really intelligent lyrics, accompanied by engaging music and different styles which is probably why she has some serious recognition, Folklines aside.

I'm not sure what traditional Scots music is, but there's a lot of worth here and is vastly different (superior) to the gentile, tiptoeing gasps of Cara Dillon or Patty Griffin. There's elements of Indie Alanis, traditional field tunes, and maybe a bit of etherealness with guitars and pianos that create an interesting background but don't loose her voice in doing so. Very introspective, thoughts and personal statements, she's not shy in tackiling issues and voicing opinions, giving a more recognisable folk/political approach (sex trafficking, the Holocaust) - even Moses crops up in there and I didn't think I could possibly like a song with that as the theme alone. There's elements of despair, wonderment, the universe and individual support. It is very melodic and communicative, being intelligent and affecting as well as interesting, unpredictable and beautiful.