MP3 | Astrid Williamson — ‘Sing The Body Electric’

If the title of today’s free song sounds familiar, it could be because Astrid, like many others before her, pinched it from the title of a 150 year old Walt Whitman poem. Cyndi Lauper adapted the phrase for her 2005 album The Body Acoustic, but ‘electric’ works perfectly well this time round for Astrid. Lifted from the Shetland-born singer-songwriter’s upcoming fourth album Here Come The Vikings, her rockiest outing since she first set out in the mid-1990s as one half of Goya Dress, ‘Sing The Body Electric’ starts out weirdly enough with a shout out to 19th century civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel who, according to Astrid, only built his bridges to impress “a beautiful girl in a lilac dress”. We’re not sure if this is historically accurate, but it’s a nice way into this chiming little rocker with its pretty piano riff dropping in and out beneath the drums and guitars. There’s a lovely vocal moment just as Astrid gets into the second verse as her voice takes on a deeper, more profound quality that confirms that this Lone Wolf has lost none of her passion. Here Come The Vikings is released on June 8th through her own label Incarnation and One Little Indian, preceded a week earlier by first single ‘Slake’.

FREE MP3: Astrid Williamson, ‘Sing The Body Electric’

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