Semer Water, Deb's second album, is now available. Those who heard Deb's critically acclaimed My Prayer will have some idea what to expect - first and foremost Deb's fantastic vocals. But Semer Water is also very much a departure from My Prayer, and demonstrates the extent to which Deb has continued to mature as an artist. The album features 11 songs, 7 of which were written by Deb herself. The working title of the album was 'the supernatural album', and this remains very much the theme of the finished product. The album celebrates and explores the supernatural. For example, the title tracks tells the story of the village of Semerdale in Yorkshire, now to be found below the waterline of Semer Water following, so the story goes, the cursing of the village by a young woman who, on visiting the village selling lucky heather, was turned away by all except one kindly old lady. As the song recounts, only her house still stands above the shoreline. Deb has also put Robert Burn's Mary's Dream and Goethe's The Erl King to music. Other songs include The Dancers of Stanton Drew, which tells the tale of a wedding party turned to stone after being captivated by a fiddle player who encouraged them to dance after midnight on the Sabbath.
Musically, Semer Water is a very varied collection of tunes. Semer Water is a beautiful ballad, one of several tracks on the album which features the piano of Simon Thomas, accompanied here by the guitar of Ralph Sandland and Phil Beer's fiddle. The Dancers of Stanton Drew again features Beer on fiddle and Ralph Sandland on mandolins and percussion. This track has shades of Kate Bush's The Red Shoes and will be a surprise to many. A Deb Sandland track that you just have to dance to! This is followed by Mary's Dream, the second track on the album to feature Simon Thomas' piano, joined here by Ralph Sandland on guitar and Phil Beer on a trio of recorders. Burns never sounded this pretty before! Next up, Get Thee to the Drowning, sounds like a traditional folk song, but is in fact new, written by Deb and her friend Sue Atkins. Deb sings this accapella, the only accompaniment being a bass drum.
The next track, The Erl King, constitutes the most surprising musical moment on the album. If you ever wondered what a string quartet of Phil Beers would sound like, now's your chance to find out! Opening with a droning double bass, one of two on the track, both played by Miranda Sykes, the track soon gives way to an insistent couplet of fiddles played by Beer. As the song builds a second double bass, a bass fiddle, and two further fiddles pick up and explore the tune and the rhythm, punched out on timpani and guitar. Soaring above this are Deb's lead vocals, and Deb also forms herself into what sounds like a choir of angels to provide some breath-taking and ethereal backing vocals.
As the final notes of the Erl King are still ringing in your ears, the first chords of The Scarecrow strike up. Sensitively accompanied by Martin Green on guitar, Deb provides the definitive version of this beautiful and haunting song, a staple of her live set. The Cruel Sister, equally haunting, has also featured on the Beer and Sandland tours of 2003 and 2004, but the version offered here is very different, with Deb accompanied by piano and Gareth Turner's melodeon. The song also features Beer, playing Spanish guitar in wandering minstrel fashion.
Beer contributes vocals and mandolin to Long Black Veil, another Beer and Sandland live favourite, and a stomping, rousing song. The Show of Hands connection is also on display in the next track, a beautiful cover of Don't Look Now from the Cold Frontier album. Deb's version, piano based and featuring a gorgeous double bass, courtesy again of Miranda Sykes, is very different from the original. The penultimate track, My Kind and Gentle Man, is another Sandland original, co-written with pianist Simon Thomas and featuring Beer on a very breathy, atmospheric, bass fiddle. Not for the first time listening to this CD, the listener is struck by Deb's abilities as a vocalist - a one woman choir would be a more appropriate description - and as a song writer and lyricist. The album closes with Will You Meet Me Tonight, Deb's take on this traditional tune, co-arranged with her former Aqua Sisters partner Julie Thurman. The song features Deb, Julie, Deb's sister Nancy, Laura McCormick, Sam Jones and Michelle Evans, who each contribute five vocal parts. The resulting thirty-voice choir, swirling and ethereal, is the closest you are likely to get to the real sound of angels in flight. A fitting close to this remarkable album.
Semer Water shows Deb on top form. The quality and complexity of her vocal performances on this CD show that she is one of the very best and inventive singers on the contemporary circuit. The album is nicely packaged and includes an eight page full colour booklet with photos of Deb and the band, and the lyrics and credits for all the tracks.