Wooden Spoon is the latest album by Seattle based singer songwriter Michael Compton, the album was produced by Stephen Fisk with a band that features Yuuki Matthews, Michael Musburger, Steven Fisk, Jacquie Dillon and Lori Goldston. This is the 20th album Michael's label Missing records has put out. The press release claims it's the labels best one yet, but having not heard any of the others I can't comment on that.
This opens with the keyboard rush of Shapes, that's a modern folk-rock song with maracas, a good strummed riff, it's gently insistent as he tries to avoid the violence while trying to live a decent life.
Headband is about hard it is to let go of someone who has already left, but you never wanted them to leave or dump you, plangent guitars help to exorcise the pain he's in as the strings begin to swell.
I'm Here To Help is a plea to be allowed in to help set around a slow deliberate bassline and some strings, before the piano/keyboards take over.
Connect The Dots sounds like a slowed down Brian Auger tune as the impassioned lyrics unfold and the picture reveals itself as those dots are all connected.
When Your Ship Comes in sadly isn't a cover of the much-covered folk song, Michael doesn't adopt a Northern accent, mainly because this is about a ship and not a boat, this has a harder sound to the rest of the album musically, with fuzzy guitars for the still reasonably gentle vocals to go over. The guitar solo towards the end is well worth hearing.
Aweigh has some lush organ and guitar in the intro with the drums holding it together as another slow thoughtful song unfolds.
Le Domestique is a very slow and thoughtful song of despair as one more argument bangs another nail into the coffin of a dying relationship.
Better To Replace is one last heartbreaker as he realizes it's time to move on and let that organ come through to delicious effect as the strings signal, he wants a cease fire and to stop all the fighting.
Find out more at,
http://www.missingrecords.com/michaelcompton/ https://www.facebook.com/MichaelComptonMedia https://michaelcompton.bandcamp.com/album/wooden-spoon
