Radie Peat Delivers a Startling Debut Solo Album

Radie Peat Releases Debut Solo Album No Human Tongue Can Tell

Lankum singer Radie Peat released her debut solo album, No Human Tongue Can Tell, featuring a collection of traditional songs centered on female struggle, suffering, strength, and endurance. The release captures stark, intimate arrangements built around her voice, harmonium, and piano.

Stark Arrangements Define the Opening Track

The album opens without frills or ornament, relying solely on Peat’s low voice and the air vibrating through the metal reeds of a harmonium. She performs “Hares on the Mountain” using the tune Shirley Collins arranged for the 1964 release Folk Roots, New Routes, accompanying herself on Fender Rhodes piano before layering in Mellotron and Wurlitzer. Her quiet approach yields a sound that is consistently startling and profoundly moving.

Traditional Songs Reimagined Through Personal Choices

Peat assembled the tracklist by limiting her selections through her own mind, abilities, and personal preferences rather than aiming for epic statements. The approach brings a renewed, gut-deep connection to songs she has performed live for years. “Willow Garden,” which Lankum performed as a major-key chorus in 2017, transforms here into a reverb-heavy, haunting elegy where Peat’s delivery of the lyric “poor little girl” buckles with sadness.

Earthy Production and Guest Contributions on Folk Releases

Producer John “Spud” Murphy brings out granular, earthy details across the record, from the air sucked through Peat’s concertina bellows on “Cailín Deas” to Eleanor Myler’s disruptive drum thwacks. Alongside Peat’s release, the month brings several notable folk projects. Bróna McVittie drops an ambitious Samhain-themed fairy song collection titled Supernatural via Company of Corkbots, featuring contributions from Lithuanian singer Jausmė, Ukrainian bandura player Anastasiya Voytyuk, and Spanish flamenco guitarist Antonia Jiménez. Meanwhile, Bird in the Belly releases Only Dogs As Friends on GF*M, and South African guitarist Guy Buttery introduces Improvisations from a Rural Church: Volume 1, incorporating a swarmandal and a shakuhachi into ambient pump organ recordings.