This disc has been around our office CD player for a few months now and has had plenty of plays, but it missed out on a review because we’ve had the Equation discs in the last few mailers. Despite this, it’s selling steadily through a mixture of his reputation and work with Cara Dillon and Equation, live shows and our recommendation for customers looking for something new. This is a disc worthy of a high profile; it’s one of the most creative and vibrant albums around, and has stood up to repeated plays incredibly well.
He’s a talented multi-instrumentalist playing guitar, violin and viola over the 10 tracks, and with his background in folk you’d expect this disc to have a strong traditional feel, and to some extent it does, but this is really a singer/songwriter disc with an ‘English feel’. Where most US singer/songwriter discs have subtle elements of trad country in melody and instrumentation, this disc does the same but with the English tradition, it’s subtle but definitely there, sometimes in melodic structure, or the percussive guitar and violin work. It’s a striking and confident approach, and one that demands the listener’s attention throughout.
He has a strong youthful voice, (reminiscent of a young Ellis Paul) and is well suited to acoustic material, Kathryn Roberts and Cara Dillon provide backing vocals, and they add some imaginative and beautiful vocal textures, elsewhere brothers Sean and Sam offer instrumental support.
While only 10 tracks in length, there’s quality throughout, ‘Garden of Grace’, ‘April Eyes’ and ‘Look Outside Your Window’ being three of the many highlights. While there are other contemporary singer/songwriters with folk influences, it’s never been as fresh or confident as it is here. Highly recommended.

now deleted, sorry.