Album Review // Linda Thompson // Proxy Music
4.5/5 stars
Initially, Linda Thompson was renowned for her collaborations with her husband, former Fairport Convention member Richard Thompson. The Thompsons released significant albums together (and separately) establishing them as folk-rock royalty, with Linda as queen. Her voice was often noted as one of the genre's most celebrated. Proxy Music is her only release in over a decade. The use of the word "proxy" here isn't just a sassy pun, but defines the recording itself. Years ago Thompson was diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia which left her voice strangled. For this release, Thompson gathered family and close friends to sing her songs on her behalf. These pieces are steeped in tradition. Its most important track, the waltzy "The Solitary Traveler," reflects on a life which doesn't mirror Linda's, yet the sentiment "I had a voice clear and true… but now that voice is gone" reads like a self-written eulogy.
The English ballad "Mudlark" sung by The Rails (featuring her children) is sweet in its simplicity and as memorable as McCartney's "Blackbird." Harmonies among families are often the most celestial, which Linda acknowledges in her curtsy before other imperials The Roches, The Wainwrights, The Watersons, and others in the track "Those Damn Roches." This album rings clear with Thompson's voice, not just echoes.
