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Review: 'Morton Valence'
'Left'   

-  Album: 'Left' -  Label: 'Bastard Recordings'
-  Genre: 'Indie' -  Catalogue No: 'BR09'

Our Rating:
‘The Day I Went to Bed for 10 Years’ is one heck of a way to start an album: over seven and a half-minutes in length, it’s a biographical narrative that finds the London five piece present the stylings of a grizzled troubadour singing his life over an acoustic guitar before descending into addiction and life on the streets amidst a simmering feedback and ominous bass drone that engulfs the delicate strum. It’s an ultimately redemptive tale, but immediately shows lead songwriter Robert ‘Hacker’ Jessett’s lyrical skills and nuanced songwriting.

The mellow ‘Clouds’ provides welcome relief after the darkly brooding ‘Chaps’. Two-parter ‘Old Punks’ begins as a melancholic reflection on a bygone era before transitioning into a frenzied racket that sounds like a lost demo recording. There are sad songs – ‘Annie McFall’ – songs of dark reflection ‘Slide Don’t Try’ – and songs of social realism – ‘Boyfriend on Remand’.

‘The Return of Lola’ is a cleverly-conceived and nicely realised response to the Kinks classic, and while ‘Left’ might be anything but upbeat or amusing, it is a wry, dry and eloquent work that’s keenly observed and neatly delivered.

Morton Valence Online
  author: Christopher Nosnibor

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Morton Valence - Left