We Have Tigers

I have mixed feelings about We Have Tigers, the debut folk album of the Finnish-English artist Inga Liljeström. Let's deal with the negative stuff first, which centres upon not being entirely convinced by Liljeström as a vocalist. She has a rather precious, breathy delivery that works fine when she's just whispering her dark confessions in your ear accompanied by her own gentle acoustic guitar plucking. But her voice is less equipped to ride the storm of multi-tracked orchestration and distorted Spaghetti Western guitar that is summoned by her collaborator and arranger, the multi-instrumentalist Michael Lira.
But on the plus side, this atmospheric collection of originals and traditional songs is refreshingly different, inviting comparisons with talents as diverse as Kate Bush, Nick Cave and the still sadly missed Lhasa. The cover versions in particular are impressive. It must be hard to bring something new to songs such as ‘Woman of Constant Sorrow’ and ‘In the Pines’, which we've all heard countless versions of before. But the intrinsic problem still remains: if you're going to make music this cinematic you need to make sure that, centre screen, you have someone who is commanding enough to hold the audience at all times, not just during the quiet scenes.