Like all romantics, the moon is a potent image for singer-songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov. It's a constant presence on this, his fourth album; being personified on That Moon Song ("she pulls on this heart like she pulls on the sea") and creating just the right illumination for a love letter in Words ("though I write them by the light of day please read them by the light of the moon").
Isakov is originally from South Africa although moved to the States when he was just seven and grew up in Philadelphia area. He is now based in Colorado; obviously a positive place to be as he lists the "inspiring" Denver scene on the album credits.
He plays guitar, banjo, piano and harmonica and is accompanied by a three-piece band (The Freight) : Jen Gilleran (drums), Jeb Bows (violin) and Phil Parker (cello).
His songs are based on situations rather than events and mostly have a sleepy, introspective feel.
Dandelion Wine, the opening track, establishes the album's sparse and introspective mood from the very first line: "Summer days are just a magazine".
Occasionally, such as with the very slow Master & A Hound, this becomes almost too soporific
but the mood of hazy days and moonlit nights is also very soothing to the ear.
One of the standout tracks is If I Go, I'm Goin' which voices a preoccupation for outstaying his welcome "I will go if you ask me, I will stay if you dare"
You can learn a lot about an artist by the covers he chooses; Isakov's version of Leonard Cohen's One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong reveals his poetic state of mind.
He has also spoken of his admiration for the way Kelly Joe Phelps is able to combine heaviness with humour while another key record for him is Bruce Springsteen's The Ghost Of Tom Joad.
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Perhaps not coincidentally, there's a strong Steinbeck atmosphere to many songs with the wistful glimpses of a better life just out of reach.. The title track includes the lines : "smoke flies from whisky mouths, vagabonds walk this suitcase town" and characters include drunkards and a girl working an exhausting graveyard shift (Evelyn).
Still, the Cohen cover has to go down as a noble failure in my book. With the sweetness and delicacy of this version, you lose the song's inherent darkness and depth, In fairness, Isakov is modest enough to acknowledge that he couldn't improve on the original: "It was a struggle for me to make it better so I tried to make it as different as I could", he says.
Flaws aside, Isakov's considerable song-writing gift shines through and accounts for the support and encouragement he has received from artists like The Indigo Girls and Brenda Carlile.
Carlile is welcome guest on this album singing harmony on several tracks and she duets with him on the Cohen song.
To return to the astrological metaphor, it would be fair to say that Isakov's star is very much in the ascendant.
Gregory Alan Isakov's Website
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