Deborah Conway & Willy Zygier – Everybody’s Begging

This is a beautiful album. Following the acclaimed Stories of Ghosts – an unbeliever’s take on the Old Testament – Conway and Zygier continue to mine the Hebrew Scriptures, a rich source of inspiration for millennia.

From the driving opening track ‘Everybody’s Begging’ through to the final surrender of ‘Serpent’s Tooth’ – “you won’t need that moat around you, I surrender” – it is lyrically gorgeous, repaying every listening.

It’s all gritty and personal. It’s struggle, lament, sex, death and redemption through tears. Conway is there as an ancient in exile then in Budapest. She takes images and puts them in unexpected places. Time shifts back and forth. For those with ears to hear, there are shades of Dylan, Kelly and Cohen.

Vika and Linda Bull are in the vocal mix and Niko Schauble (drums) and Simon Starr (bass) make a killer rhythm section. Zygier’s guitar work is bright and direct with scant processing but it’s Conway’s voice that makes this album. Smokey and clear, it’s fierce, defiant, broken, gentle – and probably a national treasure. (GW)

★★★★