Track of the Day: Eleri Angharad “Earthbound (Acoustic)” (2019)

Ahead of the release of her Earthbound on Friday, April 12th, Swansea based singer-songwriter Eleri Angharad has released an acoustic rendition of the album’s title track in anticipation. 

Inspired by a North American road-trip, which saw Angharad perform in Nashville, Greensboro, Chicago and New York, the album is a blend of traditional country music, with its rich storytelling, and contemporary pop music. “Earthbound” and the album of the same name, to me, brings to mind the likes of Grammy winner Kasey Musgraves, Claire Bowen and Scottish singer-songwriter Karine Polwart.  

On the track in question Angharad strips it all back to just her vocal and guitar accompaniment. It’s a smart move, placing greater emphasis on her beautiful vocal performance. It’s personal, unabashedly intimate and emotive. According to Angharad: I wrote Earthbound when I couldn’t sleep. It’s about that moment when you’re having the time of your life doing something you probably shouldn’t and slowly reality dawns on you as the morning light sets in”

Whilst, the rest of the album is more involved in terms of instrumentation, with Angharad corralling a number of local musicians to appear on the record, the whole album benefits from the same strong songwriting that birthed “Earthbound”. Give it a listen!

“Earthbound (Acoustic)” is available now. The album Earthbound is released April 12th. You can keep up to date with Eleri Angharad via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Simon Clark

Books Editor. An admirer of songs and reader of books. Simon has a PhD in English and Comparative Literature. All errant apostrophes are his own.