Heather Lynne Horton – DON’T MESS WITH Mrs MURPHY

Heather Lynne Horton
DON’T MESS WITH Mrs Murphy
At The Helm Records Ltd.

Hauntingly Lo-Fi Filtered Alternative Country Love Songs For the Broken Hearted.

Even after playing this album a couple of times I’d never have guessed that Heather Lynne Horton is half of RMHQ favourites The Westies and married to Michael McDermott, the other half of that inestimable ensemble.
The album opens with the windswept Murphy’s Law which floated out of the speakers on gossamer wings the first time I played it; but later on headphones a tightly wrapped story starts to unravel and I guess there will be even more surprises the more I listen over the coming months.
This is directly followed by Wheelchair Man a very dark story set to an ethereal piece of music; and I knew I couldn’t just let this be ‘background music,’ although I suppose it could work in that scenario; but then you would miss some very clever and intricate songwriting.
If you put your mind to it, this album isn’t an ‘easy listen’ but the effort is worth it when you discover the complex delights of Did You Feel That? Boomerang and Pauper Sky, to name but three songs that definitely deserve your attention.
More astute reviewers than me will be able to do a ‘compare and contrast’ with other female singer-songwriters of this ilk; but to me when I hear fragile songs like Flesh and Blood or Save The Rain I’m reminded of singer-songwriters like Nick Drake and Elliott Smith, possibly channelled through the early Cowboy Junkies albums…..but that’s just me.
I really want to proffer the ‘secret/hidden’ track as my favourite here; because it probably is…..but I won’t spoil it for you; just saying that it may be well worth letting I Wanna Die In Sleep carry on for a couple of minutes #wink.
So the accolade of ‘Favourite Track’ goes to F.U by default. As the title suggests it’s an ‘angry song;’ and quite rightly so when you hear the story unfold, but the way Heather gets her message across is never ‘shouty;’ but more that horrible ‘simmering rage’ way women have, that men like me will never understand……but fear.
DON’T MESS WITH Mrs. MURPHY is a fascinating album, with some wonderful songs that will touch the hearts of many souls who hear them, and will play over and over until the disc wears out.

Released UK September 15th 2017

Released USA July 21ST 2017

http://www.heatherhortonmusic.com

https://soundcloud.com/at-the-helm-records/did-you-feel-that-heather-lynne-horton-dont-mess-with-mrs-murphy