A multidisciplined artist who works in the fields of acting, music, and photography, Abigail Hopkins brings them all into play on her latest album Stardust. Seventeen years have elapsed since Abigail’s last studio outing (2008’s The Memoirs Of An Outlaw) but I’m pleased to report that time hasn’t blunted her musical charms and her recent travails (including a battle with stage three cancer) have added an emotional depth not reached upon previous outings. Featuring eight tracks that sparkle like stars in a crystalline sky, Stardust finds an artist at the top of their game.

There’s an ethereal, otherworldly aesthetic threading Stardust together and that’s best exemplified by opening track ‘The Corridors Of Hospitals’. Like a ghostly apparition walking deserted halls that are illuminated by bright moonlight, this is a discombobulating introduction, a slightly unsettling song that seems to emanate from the thin veil that separates this world from the next. Evidencing the duality that runs through this album, it’s also rooted in reality with a lyricism that’s painfully existent. A tension of opposites will echo throughout Stardust; the light and shade, the lithe and weighty, conspire to create an album that’s constantly rotating with each track, offering a different facet with each turning of the page. Abigail Hopkins proves herself a versatile vocalist floating above the instruments on ‘Storm’, whilst also hitting some loquacious lows, before stepping out of the shadows on ‘The La La La Song’. The voice becomes an instrument in itself, and on Stardust that’s vitally important. This album has a stark minimalism, yet it also sounds full and all encompassing and that’s primarily due to Abigail’s voice which shapeshifts and tailors itself to each song.

The music is an equally important component of this record and the bells which herald the arrival of ‘Sea Song’ echo as if from the lost port of Dunwich, their toll reaching us from the ocean’s depths. It’s a beautiful instrumental, composed seemingly from field recordings, designed to transport the listener to a different realm. It’s proggy and Pink Floyd-esque in a quintessentially English way, whimsical and full of longing, it perfectly encapsulates an expanse of sea beneath a slate grey sky. Continuing the album’s arc, ‘Stardust And Moonbeams’ is a haunting closer and like much of this album “haunting” is the operative word, it is evocative and will follow you around like a friendly spectre long after the disc has stopped spinning.

All the various strands of art in which Abigail is involved are pulled together to make a cinematic, three-dimensional work in Stardust and ensures that it is a star that will burn bright for a long time.

• Stardust is released via Tiny Fragile Records and is available now (from here).
• Official Website | Instagram | Linktr.ee | YouTube Channel

Track List:

1. The Corridors Of Hospitals
2. Storm
3. The La La La Song
4. East Berlin
5. Stardust Of Unknown Origin
6. All The Times I
7. Sea Song
8. Stardust And Moonbeams