Must have! Keren Ann / 101

I came late to Keren Ann. She had already burned her feet in Chelsea and seen water by the cathedral before “Lay Your Head Down” from her eponymous 2007 album took me back to lazy summer afternoons in the park and “It’s All a Lie,” “The Harder Ships of the World” and “Where No Endings End” kept me company in dark rooms late at night. Beautiful melancholy, not depressing, but inspiring. The soundscapes rise and fall in swirls of guitars, chanting choirs and eerie keyboards, and there is always that voice, so intimate, so close it seems to be singing only for me. I tracked down what I had missed and lingered over the mysterious charms of “Nolita”, “Not Going Anywhere” and “End of May” and the dark humour of “Sailor & Widow”.

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