This is a pretty decent modern English folk album recorded in Brixton. The handmade CD-r actually comes with personalised art by Matt himself which is cool as is the opening tune, Barbary Slave, which sounds like it could be a lesser known Richard Thomson tune with a bit of an eastern feel to it. This vibe continues on Black Psalm that also has some very nice banjo work on it.
Dirty Mash takes things a bit slower and certainly a lot darker, being a real song of suffering that Matt sings like Richard Thompson at his most dour and despondent. The mood then lightens on Grace of The Winds which is much more Nick Drake with a hint of Richard Thompson than it is Fairport Convention.
Wormwood stands out by having a very cool sax break running through it and is the one tune that didnt remind me of Richard Thompson, unlike the quite dark and disturbing Patterns and Demons that could be a long lost Richard and Linda Thompson. Few doom laden songs of despair are banjo led quite like this one is.
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He then wraps things up with a couple of more or less forgettable tunes that are a bit more chilled out than the rest of the album. Overall, this will appeal to anyone looking for a new young pretender to Richard Thompson. Matt hasn't quite got the guitar chops but the songwriting is certainly headed in the right direction.
Blang Records online
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