Little Sparrow Debut Album
‘Wishing Tree’
Review by Lauren O'Halleron
The Thrash
Blues: Misfits
single Review
Review by Dave Simpson
L
ittle Sparrow, real name: Katie Ware is an
English singer/songwriter based in Manchester.
Her backing band consists of Sarah Dale on
cello and vocals, Graham Clark on violin, Johnny
Lexus on electric guitar and vocals, and Mitch
Oldham on percussion. Ware herself also plays guitar
for her songs.
Elbow frontman Guy Garvey affectionately referred
to Ware as ‘Cockney Sparrow’, and it was three years
ago when Ware felt ‘Little Sparrow’ seemed more
fitting. She also claimed it characterised the sound she
was going for. Her debut album ‘Wishing Tree’ was
released on May 6th, 2014, with the first single
‘Struck Gold’ released on December 5th, 2014.
A sparrow does seem fitting for the first half of
Wishing Tree, as Ware keeps her vocals at a high
pitched volume, but not so high that you’ll be
covering your ears. The first song ‘Polly’ introduces
the album with a catchy beat and a nicely blended mix
of acoustic guitar and violin. The album then dips
with mellow tracks ‘By My Side’ and ‘The Flame’,
before uplifting the listener again with the album’s
title track ‘Wishing Tree’. A similar pattern occurs
throughout the album.
They say every album needs at least one song that
jumps out at the listener, and ideally, this is the song
you release to the public. ‘Struck Gold’, the sixth
track on the album, was a good choice for release. The
main reason is that Ware finally rests her high-pitched
signature vocals and adopts a better fitting low-pitched
chord. The song doesn’t stray from the old reliable
theme of finding love, and the video, despite being
filmed using one shot, portrays that of a short film
dedicated to this love. Ware takes the camera in her
stride and doesn’t falter when the musical interval
kicks in. This girl knows how to perform to an
audience.
Ware keeps up with the low-pitched vocals
throughout the second half of the album, occasionally
mixing it with her ‘sparrow’ pitch in songs like
‘Sending the Message’ and ‘Heart’. It is an overall
mellow album, something to relax to after a long day.
It starts and ends with an upbeat track, exploring
themes that have been used by almost all musicians
such as love and struggle, and exploring rare themes
(in music, anyway) in songs like ‘The Hunted (A
Bear’s Tale)’.
Ware’s music is said to be inspired by that of Kate
Bush, PJ Harvey and All About Eve, and definitely
falls into the country genre. In fact, ‘Little Sparrow’ is
also the name of an album by Dolly Parton, a country
favourite, though whether or not this was in part an
inspiration for Ware’s stage name is unknown.
There is great potential with Little Sparrow. While
Wishing Tree is an enjoyable album with a hint of
originality, it seems that Ware almost holds back a
little, or perhaps that was the intention. This could just
be a taste of what’s coming next.
61
The
Thrash
Blues
are
a
singing/songwriting duo from Dublin
who favour an extremely back to
basics approach to creating music.
Describing themselves as “A strippeddown, acoustic roll band perhaps”,
t