Issue 66 on sale now
Album Reviews
The Flame And The Pelican
There’s a distinctly 70s feel to Harris’s old-fashioned, troubadour songcraft and these ten original stories of love and loss (alongside wistful odes to the wonders of Mother Nature) effortlessly evoke the likes of Jim Croce and Gordon Lightfoot. Floating over understated whistles, piano, harp and sister Ellen’s lovely whispered harmonies, Harris’s honeyed rasp of a voice and elegantly fingerpicked guitar guarantee a gentle ride on this, his second full-length album of carefully crafted ballads (‘Potato Flower’ and ‘Donegal’) and wry relationship sagas (‘Big Umbrella’). ‘Rider’ recalls the smoky folk-blues of Kelly Joe Phelps, while ‘Sylvia Plath’s Lullaby’ offers some predictably dark introspection. The witty, Paul Simon-esque ‘Tea Meeting’, however, soon re-establishes the upbeat mood. A class act with a big future.
Steve Bennett
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