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Reviews
Rock n' Reel - Five Stars
Young folk musician of the year finalist, member of Rubus and touring with Tom
McConville - well, I'm already impressed. Having listened to 'Cities and Power'
I'll raise that to gob-smacked. This is David's second solo album and has the
look of one that should be approached with care. Not so - it should be embraced
enthusiastically. From the first few seconds of 'Heathens' you're hit by a
welter of sound courtesy of merely two supporting musicians, Christi Andropolis
on fiddle and Randy Andropolis on Hammond and piano. When they show restraint,
as with Billy Bragg's 'Rumours of War' and the creepy 'Knocking at my Door'
David's powerful but fluid acoustic guitar comes to the fore.
All but one track on the album is original material and David Newey is a
remarkable songwriter, quite unlike anyone else. Unsettling, apocalyptic lyrics,
and tunes with great hooks - I keep thinking of Becker and Fagen at Steely Dan's
best. This guy is that good.
The sound is bright and sharp and David is right to singly out recording
engineer Dave St.Onge for praise, and equally correct to laud his fellow
musicians. Cities and Power is a knockout album.
David Newey - Cities And Power (Furrow Records)
This tremendously able guitarist-singer-songwriter (and
2003 Young Folk Awards finalist) has been very busy over the past five years,
not only touring with BBC Radio 2 Folk Musician Of The Year Tom McConville but
also working with Emily Portman and Christi Andropolis in the trio Rubus. And
here he follows up his first solo album, 2006’s slightly over-cryptic A List Of
Names, with an even more compelling new set of self-penned songs (and one cover
that nestles snugly and relevantly in their illustrious company).
It’s apparent right from the start that here we have songs
of serious intent, songs that command respect and demand your undivided
attention. They’re intelligently thought through and well-constructed examples
of modern-day commentary, with something distinctive to say and an economical,
punchy means of saying it, couched in an appealingly austere and yet
satisfyingly intricate musical language which doesn’t deliberately reference any
particular style of singer-songwriting yet feels utterly classic. David’s songs
concern themselves with both political and personal matters: not without a sense
of humour, but always embodying an underlying earnestness of expression and a
deep integrity. The politics of society and war are examined especially
powerfully on the opening statement Heathens (and on the aforementioned cover, a
chillingly pared-down voice-and-guitar rendition of Billy Bragg’s masterly
Rumours Of War), while the funky Move On tellingly develops and interweaves its
various themes of history and progress and the melancholy All This Work Is Done
demands instant replay as the disc moves inexorably to its close. Knocking At My
Door, on the other hand, is a delicately observational piece of immediate
impact.
All these songs – even the ostensibly slightest (content-wise) of them – will
amply repay more detailed scrutiny. Despite the songs’ intrinsic directness of
expression, there’s a concomitant oblique quality about the more elusive of them
like Word From The Wise that’s offset by the charming idealistic simplicity of
Buy You A Horse. For indeed, even after a few plays I’m finding that some of the
songs still don’t seem to have quite yielded up all their secrets. Part of the
reason for this may be that David’s melodies are so interesting in their own
right that the lyrics are sometimes in danger of being glossed over a touch.
Part of the reason may also be that the sense of unease which the lyrics convey
is so potent, almost all-pervasive, that it’s difficult at times to feel settled
and relaxed enough to be able to take a step back from the music. It’s simply so
involving that you can’t do anything but be drawn in, immersed and onwardly
captivated.
David’s vocal delivery is significantly accomplished, admirably direct and at
the forefront of the recorded balance without denying the musical accompaniment
free rein and at all times remaining firmly in control of the recorded
environment. His exceptional guitar playing (highly competent on both acoustic
and electric varieties of instrument) is omnipresent – but welcomely so,
underpinning and embellishing the songs ever-thoughtfully. A cleanly delineated
extra richness of texture is then etched into and around the mix by the presence
of additional vocal and instrumental colourings from fiddle, viola, piano,
Hammond B3 organ and percussion, these courtesy of Christi and Randy Andropolis
– the combined effect being both spellbinding and aurally stimulating.
Notwithstanding its occasional resonances of latter-day masters of the art like
Clive Gregson and Richard Thompson, Cities Of Power is an impressively
individual example of thought-provoking, understanding and imaginative
songwriting from one of the younger exponents of the contemporary tradition.
David Kidman April 2010
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