Emily Maguire is a lovely singer who sits comfortably in the new folk movement, spearheaded by her fellow Englishwoman Thea Gilmore.  But Maguire now lives in a shack on a Kenilworth goat farm in the Sunshine Coast hinterland which gives her a different perspective and perhaps a crisper sound.  Like Gilmore, this is infectious stuff that grows with every listening, opening up more intriguing and engaging lyrical byways and some just right poppy hooks.  Her own introduction to pop-folk is apparent (she is a classically trained cellist who mastered guitar from Bob Marley songbooks) but it’s her gorgeously understated vocal and dramatically arresting lyrics that get under your skin.  From the weekend party narrative of the title track (“She’s high Sunday night/Another line will see the light”) to the very funky and direct TV To Take It Away (“There’s bills to be paid and plans to be laid/Trinkets to trade and lands to invade”) you can dip into this like a magnificent Turkish mezze sprawling across a lunch table or pack it away for a picnic-for-one in a spot of rare beauty just for yourself.  Another reason to believe there is a folk revival going on and it’s worth your attention. [Dennis Atkins]
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It's a good time for female singer-songwriters at the moment – from Mandi Perkins to Brandi Carlile, there's finally a reason to replace the Tracy Chapman CD on your stereo. With her latest self-produced album Keep Walking, English-born Emily Maguire can add her name to this impressive roll call. 

Now living in Australia with her partner Christian Dunham (with whom she runs the record label Shaktu Records, through which this album is released, and who plays bass on the album), Maguire lists her three main influences as Bach, Bob Marley and Buddha. Far from having a fixation with the letter B, it's the perfect description of her music – classical, talking-to-the-people storytelling, sitting on just the right side of relaxation.

"Something" introduces you to the world of Maguire, and there are far worse ways to begin a journey. With a voice that mixes the best of Joni Mitchell and British songstress Dido, it's a lilting reminder of how fleeting moments in life can be. When she sings, 

Cos something has appeared
Like a tear in the corner of my eye 
Something in the air, I'm so scared 
Of the endless, friendless goodbyes ... 

it's with the knowledge that we all can relate exactly to what she's singing. 

Title track "Keep Walking" is a wonderful cross mixture of an upbeat melody tied to a darker lyric, which tells of a woman who needs cocaine to make sense of her life, even though she knows it could easily end that very life with one bad line. As Maguire herself states, 

But she's high Sunday night 
Another line will see the light ... 
And you know something's got to change ... 

Yet as much as her strength lies in slower-paced eulogies, Maguire also knows how to pick up both the pace and the mood with songs like "Standing." Opening with a guitar riff not too dissimilar to the Lou Gramm classic "Midnight Blue," it's a message full of hope and how remaining positive, even on the darkest days, is what we should all strive for. 

Using an enchanting combination of cello and violin with the more traditional instruments of choice, Maguire is able to at once sound familiar yet different. And it's these instruments that make tracks like "TV To Take It Away" all the more powerful, with its warning about television desensitizing us to the true horrors around us, with the despondent opening lyrics 

People keep dying on TV and I don't know where 
I should be crying but somehow I just don't care ... 

This is the beauty of Emily Maguire's music – in one instant she can be assaying us with the sweetest melody, yet in another she can be breaking our hearts with nary a care. With a coveted slot at the Cambridge Folk Festival this July in the UK, as well as Keep Walking picking up airplay in her adopted Australia, it's a bittersweet love affair that others may soon start to covet, and deservedly so.
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One of the things I really enjoy, and don’t get the time to do often enough, is sitting down, throwing on the headphones, and getting totally lost in the music and lyrics of an artist that goes leaps and bounds beyond. Emily Maguire is fabulous. 

'Keep Walking' by Emily Maguire is an album that mixes hard, realistic social commentary from the perspective of one whose fragile state of mind will not be tied down to the norm and the acceptable response to which may or may not be under one’s control, with amazing musical construction built around electric acoustic guitar, bass, drums and strings. 

Using studio production that is astounding and string arrangements that ring every drop of emotion from the songs, Emily (vocals, guitars & strings) and Christian Dunham (bass) have fashioned a decades and genre spanning piece of work that should be admired as a whole as much as for each individual song. Rounding out this group is Shane Nesic (drums), who has been playing with Christian as a rhythm section for over 20 years, and they fit Emily like a glove. Here, the tightness of the players resounds throughout; there is nary a wander as they drive the music and arrangements for maximum effect.

Packaging individual perspectives of everyday problems - from the most intimate to those experienced in general by all - Maguire and Co. touch us with the harrowing torment that these situations can produce. They do this all from the mindset of an individual who, at times, can be pushed to the edge. Yet, it is the expression of these conflicting scenarios and the solutions presented that push our involvement to a higher level than that of your average 3 minute pop song. Mixing a Suzanne Vega/Beth Orton type vocal/vocal arrangement with a solid writing sensibility a la Joni Mitchell/Joan Baez, while at times skirting Portishead territory, this album doesn’t let up until the final note.
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Dense with emotion and rich with thought-provoking lyrics, 'Keep Walking' is a sublime album to experience. Maguire’s voice possesses that rare timbre that gracefully streamlines its accompanying melody. It soars beautifully in the socially conscience ‘TV To Take It Away’ and carries the uplifting energy in the motivating ‘Keep Walking.’ On ‘Passing By,’ a listener can sense a tinge of mystery and eerieness, much in part to the song’s beautiful strings and Maguire’s cool delivery. And on ‘Wanted,’ Maguire’s cello seeps a deep hum that can easily instill chills. It doesn’t take long to realize you’re listening to something truly great.

This year will no doubt be a special one for Emily Maguire. She’s currently scheduled to attend the Cambridge Folk Festival in July and is planning an acoustic tour during the fall throughout the U.K. Hopefully, her growing audience of North American fans will have an opportunity to hear this remarkable songwriter in person. But until then, they have two incredible albums to enjoy by this incredibly gifted artist.
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