The Whispering Pines are apparently the side project of Matthew Boulter of The Lucky Strikes and are based in Southend. On paper, this suggests they might play some good Estuary blues rock in the fine tradition of, say, The Kursaal Flyers or Dr Feelgood but, no, the Whispering Pines are a Country band.
From the opening of Come The Morning they are a laid back country folk band who sound like they would want to sit down to play as standing up might be a bit of a push. Two Bullets has some pretty sad lyrics about two bullets coming through the window and the aftermath that has some great percussion and bass playing on it.
After that on every listen, the album sort of switches off for me and I almost don't notice anything till track 8 when The Branches kicks. It really stands out for being different from the rest of the album and also has a great guitar solo on it. By some way it is the song I would come back to on the album most often.
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It took me to track 10 (The Gun) for me to finally realise that Matthew Boulter's singing most reminded me of Mike Scott of the Waterboys. There is something in his delivery that has a very similar feel to it, even if the music isn't that close to The Waterboys is does owe a small debt to them.
Much as I don't dislike this album I find that very little of it has stuck with me from hearing it several times. I'm sure if you are into laid back country this would make a fine addition to your collection but for me it is a touch too nondescript to be truly memorable.
Stovepony Records online
The Lucky Strikes online
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