Grey Reverend is the solo project of singer, songwriter and composer L.D. Brown, who has enjoyed considerable success touring with British Jazz/Electronic outfit The Cinematic Orchestra (TCO) after befriending TCO’s founding member Jason Swincoe. ‘Of the Days’ is the first solo album of Brown’s to be released on Swincoe’s new label Motion Audio.
The album itself is music in its most simple form, the majority of the album is primarily acoustic guitar and Brown’s voice, this helps make for completely compelling listening. From the opening bars of the first track, ‘Altruistic Holiday’, I immediately wanted to switch off the phone close the curtains and lie in a darkened room to enable me to concentrate on the music and words emitting from the speaker. Thirty or so minutes later, as the album comes to an end, it is clear that Grey Reverend truly did take an altruistic holiday.
Even though ‘Of the Days’ lacks any one style or genre, it lacks any new innovations in today’s technological world and the guitar work lacks any distinguishable riffs it is still a must listen to any assiduous music fan. What L.D. delivers is a simple yet powerful songs that are a mixture between acoustic folk, Jazz and Blues with hints of Indie rock.
Listening through the album you are not sure if Brown is sending out a message or if they are pure pop songs. ‘Walk the Same’ hints at spending too much money on looks is a waste of time as everybody walks the same road. The Harmonica work on ‘Forsake’ is a simply chilling addition to the stripped back vocals and guitar and is by far my favourite track on the album. ‘Little Eli’ is a faster instrumental track that showcases Brown’s ability as an accomplished musician which fades seamlessly into ‘Little Mockingbirds’.
This album is perfect if you want to switch off from the world and totally relax, while the soothing sounds of the acoustic guitar along with the simplicity of Brown’s vocals are enough to entertain without actually having to think to hard about the lyrics or any message he might be trying to convey.
Like mockingbirds, brown keeps this excellent record simple.
Album Rating: 7/10
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The album itself is music in its most simple form, the majority of the album is primarily acoustic guitar and Brown’s voice, this helps make for completely compelling listening. From the opening bars of the first track, ‘Altruistic Holiday’, I immediately wanted to switch off the phone close the curtains and lie in a darkened room to enable me to concentrate on the music and words emitting from the speaker. Thirty or so minutes later, as the album comes to an end, it is clear that Grey Reverend truly did take an altruistic holiday. 
