Eddi Reader - Love is the Way

Eddi Reader’s ninth studio album, Love Is The Way, contains more of the charismatic folk and pop songs that propelled her towards an MBE in 2006. Opener Dragonflies waltzes in perfect time right out of the speakers and straight into the soul. The album's highlight, the achingly sweet New York City, could act as a comforting soundtrack to any lost and broken heart; Reader’s yearning voice renders this number soft yet utterly devastating. The piano parts on Dandelion and Never Going Back Again are fun throwbacks to smoky '50s bar-room numbers, while the title track shifts the focus back to warm folk music, its intimacy tricking the listener into believing that Reader is actually performing two feet away. However, the record's aural closeness never feels intrusive; in truth, the whole album is similar insofar as its understatement is the key to its charm.