New Albums
DOT ALLISON
Heart-Shaped Scars
Former post-rave trip-hop icon rediscovers her folk-pop muse
SA RECORDINGS
6/10
After more than a decade dealing with family commitments, Scottish singer-songwriter and former One Dove frontwoman Dot Allison reconnects with her pastoral folk-pop muse on this elegantly understated comeback. Recording in Edinburgh with a team of female collaborators, Allison coos doleful ruminations on love and loss over gently plucked ukulele, sparingly deployed strings and sampled birdsong. The default mood is a little too polite, but standout numbers include the spine-tingling waltz “Can You Hear Nature Sing?”, with its exquisitely intertwined vocal harmonies and vaguely sinister Wicker Man feel, and “Love Died In Our Arms”, a welcome detour into full-bodied electro-acoustic trip-hop melodrama. Classy but underpowered.