Weirdly, it was almost out of a sense of duty that I borrowed this album from the library - a duty owed to myself, since I thought that I might well like it, even though I didn't really expect to. For me, it all started with Merchant's solo debut Tigerlily, a sweetly precious gem of an album, and one which I always associate with gentle summer sadness; after that, I began to get into the Maniacs' back catalogue, and before now I hadn't explored any further with her solo stuff. Motherland is very recognisably Natalie (though I'd never noticed the pronounced vocal similarities between her and Beth Orton before), but has a fuller and perhaps less 'young' sound, covering more stylistic ground than that earlier work. Unsurprisingly, then, I like the dreamier, more folky ballad types the most - "Motherland", "Golden Boy", "Henry Darger" - but it turns out that the whole record is very solid, lightly bathed in the soft golden glow that made Tigerlily so special all those years ago.
