Karine Polwart at The Sage

    Karine Polwart

The Sage, Gateshead

        4.11.2018

Six years have flown by since I saw Karine Polwart at Stockton's Arc and it has been two since she was part of the extraordinary Songs of Separation collaboration I felt honoured to see play at King's Place in 2016.

The feeling of the previous tour was that A Pocket of Wind Resistance was her finest work. It is still early days, but there is every indication that the new album, Laws of Motion, may be even better.

Joined as usual by her brother Steven on guitar and multi-instrumentilst Inge Thomson on...well, virtually everything, Karine delivered a stirring and thought-provoking of dark folk, with the lightness of her touch belying the depth of the message. The songs covered a plethora of subjects, from Donald Trump to the tale of how the robin got its red breast

Standouts from Laws of Motion included Ophelia, I Burn But am Not Consumed, Cornerstone, and The Robin. 

There was even room for an unexpected and magnificent version of Video Killed the Radio Star and the welcome announcement that next album - a set of cover songs from Scottish artistes such as Annie Lennox and Bronski Beat - is almost ready to go. Intriguing!

Keep up to date with news and tour dates over at Karine's official website.