Fish Records - HARRIS JACK - THE FLAME AND THE PELICAN

01.	Potato Flower	play pause stop Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.
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Jack Harris – The Flame and the Pelican

Very occasionally an album from a new artist will stop you dead in your tracks with its simplicity, beauty and artistry, and this new album from young Welsh singer/songwriter Jack Harris is one of that select list. A folk singer/songwriter in the classic sense of the job description, he presents his own songs backed by detailed melodic guitar work and lyrics that deliver the message with real efficiency and clarity.

Jack has been around on the scene for a couple of years – he was a showcasing artist at SXSW when 17, and was the first international artist to win the New Folk songwriting competition at Kerrville, but he rightly focused on his university studies with music a little in the background. College is now finished, and this album marks his first, very confident steps as a professional musician.

There are elements here that are reminiscent of Jeffrey Foucault’s debut album ‘Miles from the Lightning’ and the comparison is a good one in terms of style and influences, and looking at two young men at similar stages of their career, Jack compares very well indeed. There’s a maturity to the writing and presentation that you’d expect from a seasoned artist, but here it’s offered by a young artist with a slightly different approach. He bridges the gap between US and UK folk with a style that has obvious links to both camps, but retains the best elements of both and presents his songs in a manner that has genuine wide appeal.

To cap off the great lyrics and masterful guitar, his vocals are soulfully understated and he presents the lyrics in a manner that captures the listener’s attention – like all great artists he brings you forward in your seat to listen rather than just letting the words wash over you.

The 10 songs are well balanced and beautifully paced and there’s definitely no filler here, every single song has depth and earns it place on an album of real quality.

This is acoustic singer/songwriting presented as real art; beautiful songs, guitar work and delivery that’s full of character and emotion. It doesn’t get much better than this, the fact that it’s presented by a young man makes it even more impressive. One of the albums of the year.

1 The Rehearsal
2 Potato Flower
3 Easter Morning
4 Rider
5 Big Umbrella
6 Red Weather
7 Sylvia Plath’s Lullaby
8 Tea Meeting
9 Wedding Dentures
10 Donegal

HARRIS JACK - THE FLAME AND THE PELICAN

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