Gabriel Minnikin could have been just another introspective Canadian singer songwriter strumming his acoustic guitar and musing poetically about the state of the planet and the condition of his soul.
Having formerly been part of country rock band The Guthries, he relocated from Novia Scotia to Manchester, England and, for his third solo album, has set his sights a bit higher than run of the mill Americana.
Not content with multi tasking on numerous instruments he has recruited an orchestra, brass band and choir as additional backing to his 14 piece band which includes sister Ruth on accordion, tambourines, triangle, sleigh bells, shakers and backing vocals.
It represents a kind of 'fuck pro tools' project where real musicians are preferred to a digitalised template. The scope and scale of the twelve tracks meant that this has been two years in the making.
Some tracks like Arkansas and Halifax Blues have relatively simple arrangements and give a clue as to how the whole record might have sounded without all the extra hands on deck.
At the other end of the scale the opening track - Land Of Language - and songs like Three or Sleepy Dream Time emulate the epic sweep of Walt Disney's Fantasia, one of Minnikin's all time favourite movies.
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The contrast between delicate tunes and bold orchestration is evident on Cold Day which begins like a Loudon Wainwright song and transforms into an operatic monster worthy of Loudon's son Rufus - all in the space of less than two minutes.
The album credits the brass arrangements to Neil Young; and if this were THE Neil Young (unlikely) I imagine he might compare Minnikin's work to the overkill production for A Man Needs A Maid from his Harvest album and reflect that this was actually quite understated.
Minnikin wins full marks for ambition but I feel the arrangements are better suited to a concept album and that the over the top production merely adds substance to what are mostly insubstantial songs.
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