Iris DeMent
★★★★
Workin’ On A World
FLARIELLA. CD/DL/LP
Fury and vengeance from John Prine’s favourite collaborator.
It feels like country/folk/ gospel singersongwriter Iris DeMent has written far too few songs over her 30-year career but, when she does, there are zero punches pulled. Her first original material since 2012 sees injustice everywhere. The sinister, serpent-like Let Me Be Your Jesus speaks with the forked-tongue lies of white supremacy; on the eightminute Goin’ Down To Sing In Texas she tackles the twisted logic that links unfettered gun ownership, intolerance and police brutality. She prefers to hope, however, looking for inspiration on Mahalia, a tribute to the Queen Of Gospel Song, and from Martin Luther King on How Long, while the title track calls for strength to carry on the work of others even though it’s “a world I may never see”. Her fiercest offering since 1996’s landmark The Way I Should, and a long overdue follow-up to that album’s righteous ire.