Irish born US resident, PATSY O'BRIEN plays and sings like someone born in Ireland and resident in America. Jazz, folk and blues are distilled and blended in a mature and singular fashion.
Which is to say, this is an honest, accomplished and very agreeable collection of personal and individual songs.
Track one ""What You Know" sets out the stall. As an acoustic guitar player O'Brien understands (and marshals) the full quality, resonance and delicacy of the instrument. He plays with assurance, a lightness of touch and a nimble appreciation of the potential (and problems) of the acoustic guitar's wide range. Where so many contemporary troubadour songwriters let themselves down by treating the acoustic as if it was a telecaster, O'Brien coaxes out all the grace and warmth of the real organic instrument. AS the album unfolds, he also plays bass, piano, autoharp, kalimba, melodica and whistle. Friends contribute flute, drums, low whistle, fiddle and uillean pipes appear in unfussy support. The overall sound is fresh and uncluttered.
The songs are fluently convincing without being heart-stopping. O'BRIEN's; professionalism rules out any chance of mawkishness or clumsiness, but for this listener, the elation of a PAUL BRADY or VAN MORRISON song is always there as a challenge to my appreciation of a new artist. The moments of transcendence are relatively few. The guitar figure in "'Til the Morning", with its hopeful rise and fall is the kind of thing I could have had a lot more of. "Riversong" has a mountain freshness, evoking a pantheon of American stars from Cisco Houston to the Carter Family. "Kiss Another One" is an off-kilter song about dreaming yourself in onto a Presidential baby kissing opportunity.
|
The one traditional song on the album "Star of the County Down" is performed as a JIM CROCE-inflected, slightly jazz thing. Perhaps my least favourite, but a good indicator of the entertaining range of a Patsy O'Brien live show. I can imagine a wonderful evening of stories, songs and good humour with plenty of time to admire the musicianship. I think that afterwards the CD is just what you'ld want to take home.
www.patsyobrien.com
|
