Melbourne songstress Jenny Biddle has self-released her third album, Hero In Me, a record that owes its existence in part to crowdfunding and some generous benefactors.
Biddle has won a number of awards, including Melbourne's Best Busker, and it's not hard to see why when you listen to Hero In Me. Beautiful mandolin-picking opens the title track. It's not long before Biddle's warm and inviting vocals begin on a very personal journey. It's a journey that continues for the duration of the album and takes you through the highs and lows of love, but without the melodrama that often accompanies it. Rather than feeling sorry for themselves, the songs about broken relationships or unrequited love simply state the facts.
Another feather in the cap of this talented multi-instrumentalist is the way she weaves her words together to create some beautifully-phrased lyrics. Good examples run throughout the whole album, such as on Running Out Of Lies, where she recalls “I was savouring the moment in the flickering light/we were teasing the air/breathing the night.”
There are a couple of more bluesy numbers, such as Pockets and Somebody To Love, where we get to hear Biddle's mighty fine harmonica playing, yet she's at her best on those tracks with more of a folk touch.
Biddle's voice has a soothing quality to it and wraps itself around you like a warm blanket. She may not be a household name, but her work is full of the same spirit, sincerity and beauty as the best works of many of this country's celebrated folk troubadours.
