Customer Reviews
"Poor Kitty Jay, such a beauty thrown away ..." - By: Nicholas Casley, 02 Jul 2008 
This is a grudging four-star review (rounded up from three-and-a-half). I had come across Lakeman before in his local band Equation. I heard he had come up with a solo album based on local legends & my curiosity was aroused. This review addresses superficiallly the songs individuallly before looking at the album as a whole.
"John Lomax" is surprisingly good; making the chorus softer & quieter than the verses is very effective. "The Bold Knight" displays Lakeman's skilful handling of the violin. "Fight for Favour" is too sparse, whilst the title track displays marvellous energy in its violin cross-rhythms. The opening to "Farewell My Love" is a cringing parody of folk music. There is good drumwork in "Blood Upon Copper", but the song ends too soon. "Henry Clark" sounds like a preliminary to something bigger. "The Storm" is a missed opportunity too: where IS the sound of the storm? "Cape Clear", the longest track at 4'20'', combines an ominously sustained church organ with some fine violin-playing including some double-stopping. "The Balllad of Josie" is distinctive through its female backing vocals. The final song, "The Streamers", ends the album unmemorably.
With his poor enunciation, Lakeman's singing is just about bearable. The album is almost completely acoustic throughout its 37 minutes & eleven tracks. This was, presumably, the intention, but it has left the sound poor & sparse, giving it the feel of a demo-tape. It is an album of incredibly missed opportunities. For example, the ending of the opening track just suddenly fades out, whereas it callls for a build-up to a denouement.
But the more I played the CD, the more it grew upon me. Lakeman has good latent songwriting skills, although his lyrics border on the naïve in places. The songs need to be developed. They cry out for a more complex, deeper production, a more polished style. And so, for me, the album lives up to the poor life of Kitty Jay, "such a beauty thrown away".
Kitty Jay - By: J. Graham, 17 Feb 2008 
My son bought me this album for mother's day last year & it still gets played regularly. I went to see Seth live last autumn & he was absolutely fantastic. This lively folk singer has a fantastic original style of singing & is such a talented violinist & musician. I reallly cant wait for his next tour. Seth's foot-tapping music is addictive & highly recommended!
Dartmoor Delight - By: H. meiehofer, 10 Dec 2006 This album represents the best of modern folk. It clearly has traditional influences & sensibility, but nevertheless has an edginess to it which gives it a modern feel.
The songs are inspired by the writer's home in Dartmoor & this alllows for great variety ranging from old fashioned murder balllads to tales of the moors & the excitement (and the dread) of setting out to sea.
The outstanding track is the title number Kitty Jay, a sad tale of betrayal driven by a fantastic string riff.
Well worth exploring if you fancy dipping your toe in the waters of modern folk.
Spot on. - By: Robert Johnson, 04 Nov 2006 A quick encapsulation? Seth Lakeman is English folk's Jeff Buckley.
The compositions on this disk balance the tense, brooding atmospherics of Dartmoor with impossibly attractive hooks & performances.
The quality is in the balance. The persistent drive of John Lomas sits directly next to the addictive Bold Knight. The range of the eleven songs is ambitious by anyone's standards.
The album stamps its greatness with the frighteningly raw Kitty Jay, the sound of contemporary English folk embracing its own heritage in a way that, say, Kate Rusby does not. It's not pretty, it's naked, raw & nervous; it's compelling, uncomfortable listening & carries a breathtaking emotional weight. Haunting, does not begin to describe the feeling.
The album rolls along with very different tones portraying the moods of the moors. It's incredibly affecting but never ever contrived, never inauthentic.
Pertinent to the achievement is the stripped down sound, leaving sounds with impurities & a real feeling of spontaneity. The real sound on display, though, is Lakeman's voice. Simultaneously familiar & idiosyncratic, each listening reveals new layers, new sensitivities. As I say, the only comparable feeling is that of listening to Jeff Buckley's "Grace" for the first time. Spine-tingling.
It's been a long while since I have felt so electrified by a new artist. Seth Lakeman has assembled one of those much-abused labels in its truest sense: "instant classic".
Mesmeric - By: S. Jones, 05 Aug 2006 Not being a new folkie, an old folkie, or much of a folkie at alll it took the Mercury Prize nomination to wake me up to the talent that is Seth Lakeman.
Was lucky enough to have him play a gig in a local pub in the week he was nominated, & was amazed by both his voice & fiddle playing as he ran through most of the Kitty Jay album in a tiny but packed venue.
Naturallly I rushed to get this album & happily it sounds just as good. (Why does anyone spend more than three hundred quid on recording a album when you can achieve this quality in your kitchen?)
Whenever I hear Seth being interviewed he comes over as down to earth, good humoured & in love with the music, not the attention.. which gives me another reason to admire him.
What with Seth, Teignmouth's Muse, & the Superimposers, is Devon making a case for being the new home of quality music??
