This is only Canadian Ian North’s second album (but the first we’ve heard) and the strength and consistency of the eleven songs here make it one of the very best singer/songwriter discs of the past few years.
He writes clear and vivid first person narratives that take their inspiration from many areas, either personal experiences, the recounting of true stories or pure imagination – whatever the source of the songs they’re beautifully written and full of atmosphere and feeling.
Nowhere is this more evident than on ‘The Ballad of Stephen Reid’, the story of a real life bank robber turned writer, the use of language is excellent and the whole story is told with real flair and style. While his lyrics are strong and literate throughout, he’s much more than just a lyricist as all eleven songs are melody rich and very easy on the ear and make an impact on the very first listen.
His voice is expressive and rich, and the perfect vehicle for the songs, he’s joined by Jennifer Claveau on many songs and she provides some memorable harmony vocals as their voices work together perfectly. The instrumentation is fairly straightforward with acoustic guitars and bass providing most of the backing with the addition of piano, accordion and mandolin in places.
There are so many impressive songs here it makes highlighting songs a little tricky, the aforementioned ‘Ballad of Stephen Reid’ is superb, ‘Skates’ is a song about love and vulnerability about a figure skater he knew (and married), and ‘Meticulous’ is a simple song with some sublime piano work in the choruses.
‘Theory of Your Life’ is an outstanding album, intelligently written and full of strong melodies and playing; anyone interested in singer/songwriters will find 11 songs of the highest order. Very highly recommended.

£13.49