It’s an album that knows exactly what it is and where it came from. And yet, somehow, Esther Rose still manages to make an age-old genre sound as innovative and relevant today as it ever was.  

Off the back of recording with Jack White and opening for new wave luminary Nick Lowe, Esther Rose launched herself into a hectic period of unrest which saw her tour relentlessly, move home not once but three times and navigate the pitfalls of an ailing relationship. Somehow during this time she still managed to write her third studio album How Many Times. The brokenhearted displacement caused by such an unsettled few years has clearly filtered its way into the album and gives it the kind of inherent perpetual motion that’s usually reserved for more upbeat poppier acts. There’s an underlying sense of positivity even when the emotional resonance of the music is telling you there shouldn’t be. The result is a staggeringly intimate folk album that will break your heart and make you smile in equal measure. 

Even the lamented fiddle on the album opener and namesake ‘How Many Times’ isn’t enough to dampen the optimism. There’s something wonderfully fearless about Rose’s approach to the pain of a breakup. “Thought I hit the bottom but I'm falling fast. Tell me why is it so hard to make a good thing last” she sings, in a voice that urges you to not feel sorry for her in spite of the lyrics. It’s classic country heartbreak stuff but something tells us that even though she’s on the ropes she isn’t out for the count just yet. The final moments of the song move into more triumphant territory, suggesting that’s there’s hope to be found within all those minor chords. ‘Keeps Me Running’ picks up the pace a little. The catchy chorus and punchy rhythm section assures us that Rose isn’t afraid of flirting with pop sensibilities. A dreamy languorous guitar solo adds to the fun whilst the rhythm section bounds alongside it enthusiastically. Following track, My Bad Mood is a song so unashamedly tethered to its country roots that you can almost smell the bar-room smoke clouds. “I’m getting pretty tired of me” Esther sings with her tongue firmly in cheek. 

‘Coyote Creek’ sees the album momentarily shift into darker more forlorn territory but the lights are dimmed for only a moment before a more hopeful folk-pop chorus arrives. ‘Good Time’ does exactly as its title promises but again there’s a tragicomic twist. “It's a good time. Having a real good time. It's a real good time for bad timing” the chorus goes, adding another bittersweet veneer to proceedings. The guitars strum along with vigour, daring you to get up and dance. “Leave your trouble, honey, right at the door. And leave your girlfriend too, you know she's such a bore” sees Rose at her most lyrically wry. Further, the Temptations-esque opener on ‘When You Go’ sets the mood nicely for another anti-love song. “Please take me with you when you go” Rose pleads, but we’re six tracks in and we already know the answer. Occasionally, the song feels like it’s only a nudge away from 50s classic ‘Tears on my Pillow’. While normally, being this derivative might be a conceptual negative, here it’s no bad thing at all. This is an album that inherits a different place fully and earns its right to sit alongside its predecessors. 

In an album with little in the way of superfluous baggage, ‘Songs Remain’, still manages to strip things back further. It’s a lights-down, lone-singer on the stage moment, making it the most intimate song on How Many Times. This is an achievement in itself, considering How Many Times is an album built entirely on intimate moments. The song is touching and vulnerable with Rose lamenting: “But letting go doesn't mean you lose, because a part of me lives on in you. I am glad it was you who broke my heart. Because it had to be you who broke my heart”. The song ends abruptly and leaves us standing in the rain, listening to a windswept voice-memo recorded by Rose at the top of Mount Philo in Vermont. It’s a smart piece of sound poetry that sets the stage for the upcoming ‘Mountaintop’. This track sees jaunty verses complemented by a sweeping chorus. Musically, it’s one of the poppier moments. The drums skip alongside scale-traversing guitars as Rose offers us a further glimpse behind closed doors: “Darkness settles in and I want one more night of sin. And don't you like the way I am. Don't you want to be my man?”. It’s a testament to Esther Rose that her vocals are always restrained, relying only on the natural intimacy of her voice to draw you in.

‘Are You Out There’ contains such lyrical highlights as “Sitting home alone on Saturday night Boo-hoo, my candle burning” and “Who knew? Were you pretending? But I really lost my shit, you know I fell for you. It's never-ending”. The well-placed expletive might catch you off guard but the fiddle/slide solo certainly won't, immersing you deeper into the album’s country roots. At one point I swear I could hear birds singing. Maybe I was caught up in the moment and woozy with emotion or maybe I’d left my window open. Either way, it was magical. ‘Without You’ concludes the album as it began: one eye on the future and one on the past. The bass is turned up to thigh-slapping levels but the mood is still despairing. “Are you coming to my show?” Rose wonders of her lost lover. Again, we already know the answer but that doesn’t matter, something tells us she’s going to be okay. 

How Many Times is a love letter to picking yourself up, dusting yourself off and being able to cast a wry smile at the things that almost broke you. It doesn’t aim to reinvent the wheel but it doesn’t have to. It’s an album that knows exactly what it is and where it came from. And yet, somehow, Esther Rose still manages to make an age-old genre sound as innovative and relevant today as it ever was.