The Secret Show: Impressionist Road Map of the West
The Secret Show is Funeral for a Friend's Matthew Davies' side project
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Friday, 02, Feb 2007 10:00
Warner Music UK, out February 5th.
In a nutshell.
Campfire. Raw. Strumming. Simple harmony.
What's it all about?
An accessible, if occasionally self-indulgent collection of songs, Impressionist Road Map represents the off-duty stylings of Funeral for a Friend's Matthew Davies. With an album's worth of songs which didn't fit Funeral's sound, Davies got some friends together and made an off-shoot album of his own.
The result is something not quite country, not quite folk, but with a certain resonance which is supported by simplistic vocals and two-part male/female harmonies. There is a sense of the homemade about things which, while detracting from the surface-level quality of the album, does lend a certain something to the emotion behind each song.
However, there are places where the amateurishness is taken too far to extremes - the false start to Manana, the tape-recorder quality of The One That I Love - which smacks of forced grunge. The stripped-down format may not be an entirely natural consequence of the music itself.
Who's it by
Matthew Davies and friends - including Lianne Francis, Mark Foley, Andrew Plain, Rhod Viney, Stu Michael and Cate Timothy. Davies is better known as lead vocalist with Funeral for a Friend, whose heavier rock influences are represented in the opening track, albeit in a subdued form.
Lead female vocals are provided by Lianne Francis, an English teacher by trade but by no means overshadowed in this collection, the ideal counterpart to Davies' vocal delivery and quite capable of staying strong through the heavier, rock-strained moments.
As an example.
"And in the light of my mistakes
I'll try to work it out
And I hope I find a place
Where I can be myself again." - title track Impressionist Road Map of the West
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Too country for the Grammys, too cool for the CMAs, The Secret Show may nestle nicely alongside a Gemma Hayes album and still expect to be played. The confused lineage of the album makes it hard to predict where any award may come from.
What the others say
"It's difficult to know exactly where Impressionist Road Map will find its audience. Surely most Funeral for a Friend fans don't know Gram Parsons from Grand Theft Auto, and alt.country fans will naturally be sceptical." - BBC
"The real joy of this album is the genuine love that shines through for a type of music that's a million miles away from Davies' day job. He's not doing this for the record company, he's not doing it for his fans, and he's not doing it because it might help shift more Funeral for a Friend albums." - musicOMH.com
So is it any good?
Strangely, the sheer randomness of the album means almost anyone may find something to like - such as The Widow, which sees a reversal of roles with Francis taking lead vocals. The overall feeling is very classically country, while in places the lyrics do become somewhat predictable, but this all adds to the campfire feeling.
Where the guitar comes to the fore, it is given the weight to carry songs through their instrumental phases, without overbearing either the vocals or other instruments, such as the harmonica interlude in The Widow.
Overall, this is one to listen to late at night, whether trying to relax before sleep or outside with friends. Laid back enough to provide a backing track to any barbecue or garden party, yet hummable enough to stick in your head the next morning, these are songs which cope effortlessly with a second run-through.
8 /10
Bob Bardsley