Finlay Morton’s ‘Interpret This’ is a collection of timeless songs recounting personal experiences from the last two years of his life. Hailing from Aberdeen, Morton has managed to combine Scottish pop folk that smacks of his regional roots with Americana country rock…and it doesn’t stop there.
Produced by Pip Williams (of Moody Blues and The Walker Brothers fame) and calling on the experience of musicians who have worked with the likes of The Pretenders, Bob Dylan and Eddi Reader to name but a few; ‘Interpret This’ manages to mould a wide ranging host of influences together as one. And when placed next to Morton’s simplistic realism and story telling talents it’s an extremely easy album to listen to.
It’s by no means a work of genius and is lyrically clichéd in parts but for the mainstay works well. As with most singer songwriters the age-old themes of love, loss and moving forward are explored. It’s unashamed lyrical simplicity paints by numbers, but what an honest and in parts deeply moving picture it paints, complete with big hooks and a pained and powerful voice that can only be achieved through living and more importantly appreciating the good with the bad. Finlay Morton is an artist from the old school and it shows through his musical sensibilities, however, he’s anything but stuck in the past.
The opening track ‘I Believe In You’ sets the tone for what’s to come; upbeat, passionate and dealing with the need to be with someone, this could be the soundtrack to so many RomCom’s or alternatively the perfect accompaniment to a winter’s night spent in the pub, by an open fire with a large single malt in hand. This is however in contrast to the following number, but serves to illustrate Morton’s musical range. ‘Dirty Sanchez’ is snappy, funky, with a 1960’s pop feel and high free flowing trumpet and inoffensive rock guitar.
But most of the songs on ‘Interpret This’ have an unmistakable soft rock feel and are in parts extremely familiar and reminiscent of other artists. ‘How Many Sorrys’ with soft Hammond, pained voice, electric solo showcasing and saying just enough but not too much could be Dire Straits. The title track ‘Interpret This’ is a good old fashioned sing song that takes a more than cheeky nod in the direction of Don McLean, including a line complete with McLean’s immortal “Holy Ghost” words, but this is just a happy coincidence.
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‘Nice Girls’ is all about, well, girls and it’s reserved American country rock vibe is as reminiscent of Tom Petty as the epic building ‘Never Loved You Anyway’ with it’s soft starting acoustic and gradual layered electric is of The Travelling Wilburys. But Finlay Morton is not copying these guys; he’s paying homage and adding his own unique blend into this vast melting pot. ‘It’s A Dream’, ‘I Miss You’ and Billy Bird’ are more folk infused, bittersweet and use strings and pipes to capture and create a vision of the highlands, whilst at the same time breaking up the happy go lucky feel that the majority of the album conveys.
In essence, ‘Interpret This’ is, to use lyrics taken from ‘Laughing Man’ about “Love and life and dreams and tears”. In parts it’s repetitive but not to the point of annoyance and more so to underline the basic points that Finlay Morton is trying make. And in doing this, with continued listening, each song progressively becomes much more enjoyable and stuck in your head with every play. Probably not one for the under forties, but a good collection of songs all the same and you’ll certainly want to hear him play live.
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