Shropshire-born, Glasgow-based singer-songwriter, Molly Linen, has just released her latest song – ‘A Lot To Give’ – on Johnny Lynch’s (aka Pictish Trail) Lost Map Records and you can get it now in all the usual places, including on Bandcamp.
This is Linen’s third single, following ‘Away‘ and ‘When They Didn’t Care‘, which both featured on her excellent 2019 debut EP – ‘Outside‘. Linen’s sound has developed a lot in that time and, on this track, comes with a maturity and self-confidence that dispenses with unnecessary instruments and production and focuses on Linen’s fabulously hypnotic vocals.
Her sound and style is reminiscent of Cat Power, Phoebe Bridgers and the wonderful Helen Ballentine of Skullcrusher. Like those singers, Linen deceives us with an apparent simplicity that belies a depth of emotion and rawness, setting her apart from your run-of-the-mill guitar wielding chanteuses.
‘A Lot to Give’ opens to the drone of an old air organ before being joined by the delicate acoustic guitar picking of Linen. Her voice is strong and subtle at the same time. It is soft and vulnerable and really draws you in. She describes the song as:
“An imagined conversation with an imagined person who lacks empathy. A heart broken like a carelessly dropped vase.”
Recorded at all-analogue Glasgow studio Green Door and produced and mixed by Ronan Fay, ‘A Lot to Give’ marks the first in a series of releases of new material by Linen between now and the autumn, presumably to coincide with an album release.
Linen has been receiving rave reviews from BBC 6 Music’s Gideon Coe and Cerys Matthews, BBC Radio Scotland’s Vic Galloway and Roddy Hart and Soho Radio’s Pete Paphides, and has even made it on to the NPR’s New Music Friday playlist. It’s set to be an exciting year for Linen.
Catch Molly Linen online: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Bandcamp | Website
