There's a lot going on in Brighton these days. We have here a solo project by guitarist JON WOOD, otherwise band member of folk rock stalwarts THE FOLD and collector of quality musical collaborators.
And, let me tell you, it’s a right old parade of this that and everything. It goes way beyond what I was expecting, and covers more territory that (in retrospect) I was really comfortable with.
Track 1, "Slow Burn" is a fine duet with US fiddler Eamon McLoughlin (who also shows up on final track "Tuning, Dropout"). It announces an ambition to start in John Renbourne territory, and does a good job. Maybe without Renbourne's legendary light touch, but certainly with his crisp melodic style and confident guitar complexity. Track 2 has Tobias adding lyrics and a soulful singing voice to a tune that could be from the early Bert Jansch on his American holidays. Phil Mills adds some direct lap steel guitar that blueses it up nicely. Up to now I'm full of admiration for the rescue and dusting down of a rich seam of British acoustic guitar music from the 60s.
After this things get increasingly varied and I start to lose my sense of communication with a single artist. "Feel Warm Inside" has the first of two contributions from Hannah Burchell. Hannah sings OK. But she's singing someone else's words with an audible lack of authenticity. "Look into to my eyes, it’s straight on down the line, oooo" doesn’t fully convince. A flute part takes an easy line through a verse and adds little. Its all a bit polite and formal.
"Tightrope" is what the album does best – it's another guitar solo. I love well played acoustic guitar. And here we have a tasty chunk. The second section doesn’t sit quite at ease with the first, but that flowing and syncopated main tune has something of the Nic Jones about it. Praise indeed. "125 mph" rattles along like a train (with nice Marsalis-like soprano sax from Josie Owens) and final tune (with McLoughlin's fiddle) "Tuning, Drop Out" has a crystal feel of something from New Age acoustic guitar that I've heard and can’t put a name to. Also notable is "Sorry I missed you Birthday" with some loving attention to the nuances of what guitar strings can sound like when pushed, pulled, patted and generally pleasured. These are the gems on the album.
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The album also has a small jazz group song in "It Means Everything" with excellent vocal languor from Lenna Santamaria and a gentle and sympathetic alto sax line from Josie Owens. The words are on the trite side and the tune has a hint of "Buddy Can You Spare Me a Dime" in it. But it is silky warm and smooth and, well, I can't hear why it’s on the same album. Jon wrote it, and he plays some minimal guitar on it. But it’s like the lobster thermidore alongside the bacon butties. An uneasy mix of otherwise fine things. "The Beat of My Heart" is an all-purpose pop song in a Laura Ashley frock. "Maybe Girl" has a vocal by Steve Holland that might have come from Jon himself … why so shy? It isn’t a great song, but its sincerity and honest regret would have been convincing if the author had spoken directly to us instead of playing some surprisingly lumpy strummed accompaniment to a friends' vocal.
As I said, there's a lot going on in Brighton. There's even more going on in the musical universe of Jon Wood. Much of it is very engaging indeed.
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