Name: Keep Your Courage
Brand: Natalie Merchant

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

0075597907858

Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Softpack.

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2023-04-14

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Warner Music Group

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

Total Cap

0075597907872

Black

Double 140 Gram Vinyl.

Black LPx2

Artist

Natalie Merchant

Genre GB

Singer Songwriter

Label GB

Nonesuch

Natalie Merchant is an American singer, born on October 26, 1963 in Jamestown, New York. With a career spanning several decades, she has established herself as a prominent figure in the music industry. Known for her soulful and emotive vocals, Natalie's unique style blends elements of folk, rock, and pop. Her thought-provoking lyrics often touch upon social and political issues, making her music both captivating and impactful. Whether performing as a solo artist or with the band 10,000 Maniacs, Natalie continues to captivate audiences with her powerful voice and heartfelt performances.

Nonesuch is a US record label that was created in 1964 as a budget label for classical releases. It eventually expanded to include adventurous music from around the globe and world-premiere recordings of contemporary composers. Nonesuch has gone through various ownership changes over the years, including being acquired by Warner Communications in 1970 and becoming a sub-label of Warner Bros. Records in 2004.

Under the leadership of Jac Holzman, Nonesuch was established as a budget label for classical releases licensed from large record companies in Britain and France. Designed by Bill Harvey, the packaging emphasized affordability with releases marketed as "Recordings at the Price of a Quality Paperback."

In 1970, Nonesuch became part of Warner Communications (Kinney/WEA) and continued to release music under its own name along with other Elektra-based labels like Elektra and Asylum Records. The merger between Elektra and Atlantic labels in 2004 resulted in Nonesuch becoming a sub-label of Warner Bros. Records within the Warner Music Group.

Nonesuch Records releases Natalie Merchant’s Keep Your Courage, her ninth solo studio album and first of new material since 2014’s self-titled record.

An eclectic album, produced by Merchant, it features two duets sung with vocalist Abena Koomson-Davis (Resistance Revival Chorus), contributions from the Celtic folk group Lúnasa and Syrian virtuoso clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, and horn arrangements by jazz trombonist Steve Davis. There are lush orchestrations throughout by seven composers including: Gabriel Kahane, Stephen Barber, Colin Jacobson, and Megan Gould. Keep Your Courage comprises nine original songs by Merchant as well as an interpretation of "Hunting the Wren" by Ian Lynch of the Irish band Lankum.

The vinyl LP edition of Keep Your Courage includes four bonus tracks from earlier albums, previously unreleased on vinyl.

Merchant writes in her album’s liner notes, “The songs contained within this album were written and recorded during the global pandemic that began in the winter of 2019 and is in its fifth wave as I write, in the autumn of 2022.  It has been, and continues to be, a period of great flux and fear on every level: global, national, communal, familial, personal.  But this is not an album about the coronavirus or the chaos it caused.  For the most part, this is an album about the human heart.”  She continues, “The word ‘courage’ has its root in the Latin word for heart, cor, and we see it over and over in many languages: le coeur, il cuore, o coração, el corazón.  This is a song cycle that maps the journey of a courageous heart.”

Keep Your Courage

Music GB