Cool Head

Wales’ Georgia Ruth wooed all with her voice and harp playing on 2013’s In the Pines, which saw her nominated for two BBC Radio 2 Folk awards. She then ditched the harp for a spikier synth-pop sound on 2016’s Fossil Scale, before bringing it back for 2020’s Mai, an exploration of the Welsh countryside with a certain folk melancholia that shows she’s not afraid to mix things up. While there is no harp on this latest album, it is Ruth’s most cohesive to date, creating a bridge between rhythmic art pop and simple narrative songs rooted in emotion and place that have been the hallmarks of her previous work. The trick has been to create an over-arching Welsh Americana, like Calexico with stirring bucolic strings and Ruth’s distinctive voice adding all the colour. ‘I’m Not Driving’ is glorious, brushed drums and piano, but with Ruth’s soft refrains doing all the hard work; ‘Chemistry (feat Euros Childs)’ is playful and pleading, the strings at their best. The songs on Cool Head are defined by a straightforward lyricism tied up in daily life and its struggles – this album was written after Ruth’s life partner and collaborator went through a serious health issue – though Ruth never allows herself to dwell on the dour for too long. The final track, a duet between Ruth and Euros Childs, is a fine example, the two of them gently singing ‘Bright Morning Stars’ (a song Ruth learnt from the Seegers) a capella; hope remains.