Secret Holiday/Victory Blues.
Fishrider Records.
Four stars (out of five)
In a line from Victory from the Puddle's latest album (the sum of two proposed five-track EPs), George Henderson likens his art to "a mirror crossing a busy road/with a head full of ideas". Some with Henderson's history would retire, having written a line so complete; he chooses instead to rely on his accumulated life experiences to strengthen his resolve to create articulate, challenging pop tunes. From cracked bone-china love songs to bar-room shanties and woozy midnight waltzes, this assured album traverses a good deal of territory on its way to becoming one of the Puddle's finest efforts.
Single download: Decline To Fall
For those who like: Orange Juice, Microdisney, the Go-Betweens
- Jeff Harford
Go Fly A Kite.
The Noise Company/Shock.
Four stars (out of five)
To celebrate the formation of his own label, The Noise Company, American troubadour Ben Kweller has released a fifth album that is brimful of upbeat songs spanning folk, rock and indie-pop. Long a fan of guitar-based music, Kweller revels in the instrument's textures; from the sinuous, fuzzed-out electric lead lines of opener Mean To Me to the acoustic slide lament of closer I Will Miss You there are details to die for. On top of all this, Kweller applies his oh-so-sharp melodies, augmenting with stacked backing vocals.
Single download: Full Circle
For those who like: The Beach Boys, The Band
- Shane Gilchrist
Acousmastic Sorcery.
XL Recordings.
Four stars (out of five)
Given that pretty much anything involving rudimentary harmonic theory is enjoying a revival as "folk" or "roots" music, former US soldier Willis Earl Beal's offering arrives as a poetic, sometimes shambolic twist on the marketeers' pigeonholes.
Just when you think you have him pinned down as dirt-bowl blues shaman (Take Me Away), the chameleonic Beal paints himself as a black Nick Drake (Sambo Jo From The Rainbow) or evokes Tom Waits' comments on (un)neighbourly paranoia (Ghost Robot). With his stream-of-consciousness lyricism, Beal offers either an authentic new voice or a perfectly contrived facade.
Single download: Evening's Kiss
For those who like: John Cale meets Son House
- Shane Gilchrist
