Aldous Harding - Train on the Island Review

Aldous Harding once again proves herself as one of the best folk musicians of the 21st century, with an album showcasing the brilliance of her absurd lyrics and clever song writing.

‘I’ve been away too long’, Aldous Harding sings on the first single release for her forthcoming album. Four years away from the release of Warm Chris, and what has changed since then? ‘I cut my hair, nobody loved it’, she also sings on the single ‘Venus in the Zinia’.  Usually, it would be advised against taking her lyrics as gospel, as it is a gospel known to be full of obtuse beauty, a captivating contradiction that will leave you with more questions than answers. But notes of the biographical find their ways into this record more than any of her previous releases. Between melodies evoking a bitter sweetness and songs that feel like a vocal playground, Train on the Island is a welcomed return to Harding, still as mystic and absurd as ever.

‘I Ate the Most’ offers an entirely new sound to what we’ve heard come from Harding, in an unexpected introduction into the electronic, still acting as a quiet track that doesn’t evolve. This isn’t a criticism, per se, but an observation to an opening track that creates an immediate intrigue into what the album will get into.

‘One Stop’ breaks out into a soft outro mumbling previously sung lyrics in a lower tone amidst a simple yet charming four chord guitar melody provided by frequent collaborator H.Hawkline.

Sombre effort ‘Worms’ helms a type of psychedelia that is brought in with the lap steel pedal, melting in and out of the track that depicts a bleak landscape, signs of hope illuminating in signs of physical light.

The titular track surmises what Harding is so well at constructing, a type of decadence that is steady and clear without leaning into an over-indulgence. A subtle whirring sound brings about a heightened warmth as the implementation of synthesisers throughout this project. 

‘If Lady Does it’ brings in a playfulness from the get to, the instrumentation notably held down by the drums and percussion performance at the hands of John Parrish, who has acted as a producer for all of Harding’s previous records, a collaboration that sees the best of both musicians. 

Harding’s vocal range continues to astound, showcased effortlessly on the track ’San Francisco’ as she flits between a span of pitches that evokes a sense of emotional shift within the lyrics and the character behind them. 

The album closer ‘Coats’ carries a lightness that rounds out the world of ‘Train on the Island’ flawlessly. ‘What do you say when you meet blue women’, she sings, as you face the cover of the album (also created by H.Hawkline)  that depicts Harding in some sort of lecture hall, looking directly down the lens, with a face painted blue. The listener is left with such a vivid image as we return back to the station we began at.

With themes of neurodivergence and the relationship Harding holds with her mother, threads of confessional beckon to come out, one could almost begin to sew a very tepid biography. However, it is best to go against a sense of closeness or interiority that one might feel is offered into the private world of Harding. Whilst the personal is more present than before, trying to figure out a picture doesn’t really work with the mythos Harding has created over the past fifteen years. At the helm of this record is a sense of calmed dramatics and eloquent construction we’ve come to know Harding for, only this time, presented with a door slightly more opened than before.