Dan Arborise: Of Tide and Trail
Dan Arborise: Of Tide and Trail
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Friday, 28, Aug 2009 01:00
Just Music, out August 31st.
In a nutshell...
The soundtrack to pleasant dreams.
What's it all about?
The album starts off promisingly with a handful of great folksy tunes. You can't help but enjoy the way the man plays guitar and since it's all a combination of his voice and his axe, there is always an impressive fluidity to his songs.
It all starts to get a tad self-indulgent as you edge towards the end of the album though.
Who's it by?
His last album was made while he was living out in the Scottish Borders and received plenty of acclaim.
Since then he moved to the (greater or lesser?) wilderness of Devon to write this record. He lived in a yurt on a farm there with his wife and daughter, getting their water from a well and generally living out every hippy's dream of casting civilisation aside.
He had to return to the relative civilisation of Dartmoor to record the album but there is a tranquillity to all his songs that suggest it could never be written within 20 miles of a mobile phone or flat screen TV.
As an example...
"And when I fall/I will run/Run by your side to the sun." - Days Even Years
Dan Arborise - You'll All Get What's Coming To You from deepinthewoods on Vimeo.
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
I would bank my sub-prime mortgage that he will not trouble the top 40, but for fans of the genre this hits all the right notes.
What the others say
"This album is revelatory and won't be straying far from my stereo for quite some time." - The Music Fix
"It seems Nick Drake is still untouchable." - The 405
So is it any good?
It is an enjoyable record that breeds optimism with every listen and if you like a looping guitar and a fine voice then you will love it.
In his best songs he has a real mastery for lyrics that hold no mention of modern life and yet remain completely relevant and all of it is wrapped up in that calming, acoustic strumming.
For newcomers to Arborise's style of laidback folk it may come across as a little underwhelming though.
7/10
Paul Smithson