Shirley Collins – “Wondrous Love”

In 2016, the legendary British folk musician Shirley Collins re-emerged to release her first new album in 38 years, Lodestar. We won’t have to wait nearly so long for the next one. Today, Collins has announced that she’s putting out another new album later this summer, Heart’s Ease, which was recorded in Brighton at Metway Studios.

“Lodestar wasn’t too bad, was it? But when I listen to it, it does sometimes sound rather tentative,” Collins said via a press release. “I had to record it at home because I was just too nervous to sing in front of somebody I didn’t know. This time I was far more relaxed — even though I went into a studio.”

The first song she’s sharing from it is “Wondrous Love,” her rendition of the 19th century hymn “What Wondrous Love Is This,” whose melody is in turn based on the 18th century song “The Ballad Of William Kidd.” Collins makes it sound both old and new, her voice steadfast against the slicing instrumentation. Collins said that she decided sing this now “because songs are stored in my memory for a great many years, and suddenly it seems the right time to bring them out again.”

Watch a video for it below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “The Merry Golden Tree”
02 “Rolling In The Dew”
03 “The Christmas Song”
04 “Locked In Ice”
05 “Wondrous Love”
06 “Barbara Allen”
07 “Canadee-i-o”
08 “Sweet Greens And Blues”
09 “Tell Me True”
10 “Whitsun Dance”
11 “Orange In Bloom”
12 “Crowlink”

Heart’s Ease is out 7/24 via Domino. Pre-order it here.