Ralston’s debut disc has been a long time coming; he’s a singer/songwriter from Grand Rapids, MI, who after many years of concentrating on live shows has finally put a studio album together - excellent news for those new to his music, but it must have been a frustrating wait for those seeing him live.
There’s a relaxed and confident feel to the disc that reflects how comfortable and familiar he is with the songs – he opens with ‘What Kind of Friend’ which is a very simple but powerful song and a wonderful (if unusual) choice for an opener, it’s a reflective and mature track that’s sets the standard and tone that is carried throughout the disc.
The two songs that follow this show the musical diversity of this album, ‘You Already Knew That’ is an excellent track, it’s basically a strong melody with an acoustic guitar backing, but the track is made by the electric guitar that punctuates and accentuates everything around it, and gives the song a real swagger – folk-rock at its best. This is followed by ‘What About Me’ which is a gentle and tender song of youth that demands an empathetic nod every time you hear it.
This range of styles is continued throughout with excellent songs across the 10 tracks; two other standouts are ‘Grace’ which is a great song with a wonderful mandolin backing, and the album’s final track ‘Draper’ is a well crafted song with a strong lyric and an elegant backing.
Despite the range of styles the instrumentation is deceptively simple – guitars, mandolin, bass & percussion make up the majority of the songs, but the excellent arrangements make every song distinct. The production is equally strong, the disc is well balanced and has a warm and natural feel throughout, it’s also full of little details that really add to songs, the stereo mixing on ‘You Already Knew That’ being a perfect example.
‘Carwreck Conversations’ is a mature and subtle piece of work, it’s intelligent, understated and thoughtful, but it never preaches to the listener, and is full of accessible and enjoyable melodies – add these together and you have an album delivers in every area.
An excellent and distinct singer/songwriter disc – highly recommended.

£13.49