Labels: Black Numbers
Review by: Joe Callaghan
Folksy, Acoustic, Country-tinged Americana singer/songwriter stuff. The usual peddling, really. I just can’t really get to grips with this sort of stuff, as it just lacks any sort of character. If you’re stripping right down, there needs to be a voice that leads the line. A voice that is instantly recognisable, and can cut through the mix with unparalleled delivery; otherwise, it’s mediocrity at best. For me, the voice is weak. It panders and warbles, but it never asserts itself. I’m not saying he needs to be screaming and shouting to get my attention, but he needs to show a bit of heart, or I’m going to be track skipping and switching it off.
There’s a bit of slide-guitar in this too, so when that quickly wore thin is when the stop button was pressed. Neo-country and even Bluegrass is quite fashionable right now, and I’m just having none of it. It’s just utterly trite and it appears forged and phoney to me. This can sit happily alongside bands like Two Cow Garage and Drag The River, that I simply don’t have any time or care for. Derivative pointless blether.