This record really doesn’t sound like it is a new release at all. It sounds like it has come straight out of the sixties, out of the glory days of folk music when Dylan was taking on the world by accident (and winning). L. D. Brown is a singer-songwriter who has stripped music back to arguably its purest form here and his music works all the better as a result.
This is an album where the gentlest strum of an acoustic guitar sounds as powerful as the most emotive of guitar solos and where the delicate straining of vocal cords is all the more pleasing than the most finely tuned of harmonies. Opening track 'Altruistic Holiday' is as close as this record gets to perfect. Carrying with it an intimacy that makes one feel as if Brown is sitting next to you rather than thousands of miles away in his Brooklyn home, the track sets out the stall of the record from the start. There is nothing flashy here and nothing more is needed. What was often so good about folk records from the glory days, by artists like Nick Drake and John Martyn, was that they did not try to create an intimate atmosphere between the songs and the listeners. Frankly, there was no need. The simple beauty of the music was what mattered and this record takes this concept to heart. In an age in which musical excess is no longer measured as such and in which singer-songwriters often feel free to layer on extra instrumentation as if there is no tomorrow, this makes 'Of the Days' wonderfully refreshing to listen to. Any additions to the voice and guitar combination are subtle and enjoyable rather than being superfluous.
Of course, this is not the most original of records. There isn’t anything here that you haven’t heard before, or indeed that you couldn’t find from many other artists, but there is a consistency of songwriting here that is worthy of attention. The haunting 'One by One' and the gorgeous 'Like Mockingbirds' are just two highlights of this all too brief sampler of what the Grey Reverend can produce. With a running time barely reaching thirty minutes over nine tracks, one cannot help but wish that a couple more songs had been added to the album; especially when this includes the brief instrumental interlude of 'Little Eli'. Hopefully another Grey Reverend release will soon find its way to the ears of all of us. If you ever feel a need to chill out this year, to stick something on and just lie back and relax then the ease and poise of 'Of the Days' might just be for you.
Album Rating: 8/10
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This is an album where the gentlest strum of an acoustic guitar sounds as powerful as the most emotive of guitar solos and where the delicate straining of vocal cords is all the more pleasing than the most finely tuned of harmonies. Opening track 'Altruistic Holiday' is as close as this record gets to perfect. Carrying with it an intimacy that makes one feel as if Brown is sitting next to you rather than thousands of miles away in his Brooklyn home, the track sets out the stall of the record from the start. There is nothing flashy here and nothing more is needed. What was often so good about folk records from the glory days, by artists like Nick Drake and John Martyn, was that they did not try to create an intimate atmosphere between the songs and the listeners. Frankly, there was no need. The simple beauty of the music was what mattered and this record takes this concept to heart. In an age in which musical excess is no longer measured as such and in which singer-songwriters often feel free to layer on extra instrumentation as if there is no tomorrow, this makes 'Of the Days' wonderfully refreshing to listen to. Any additions to the voice and guitar combination are subtle and enjoyable rather than being superfluous.
