Labels: Polyvinyl
Review by: Oli Saunders
I’m starting off my year with the new Owen LP. Ever since Joe Caithness posted a video of ‘One Of These Days’ in a thread on Collective about depressing folk, I have followed Owen’s music. True, his songs all tend to sound a bit similar, as pointed out various times including in a review on here of his previous album, but folk (which I would class him as) is a hard genre to remain inventive, and Owen nails his approach to it and has changed subtley over time.
The LP is full of solid tracks, with some stand outs. ‘O, Evelyn…’ is a beautiful ode to his young daughter. The track after this, ‘I Believe’ is as far removed from his normal sound that I have heard, implementing electric guitar and backing vocals, with Owen’s acoustic guitar taking a back seat. In fact, this is a feature of the album as a whole, with a multitude of instruments being added to tracks. On the flip-side ‘No Language’ returns the acoustic guitar to the forefront, with Owen’s lyrics ringing out as honest as ever.
Overall, a far from essential album in the grand scheme of things, but fans are unlikely to be dissapointed. Owen has once again come up some excellent songs which sit well with his other albums.
1st January 2012