T.E Morris - And You Were The Hunter (Album Review)
Friday, 07 June 2013
Written by Ben Bland
It’s difficult to listen to a T.E Morris solo record without thinking of his better-known work as frontman of Her Name is Calla. World-weary vocals aside, his individual compositions occupy much the same atmospheric territory as his band.
The instrumentation is confined more strictly to acoustic guitar here but the same aching emotions characterise ‘And You Were the Hunter’ as they did Calla’s ‘The Quiet Lamb’ a couple of years ago.
If last year’s ‘We Were Animals’ was Morris focusing as much on the subtle intricacies of acoustic composition as his songwriting then ‘And You Were the Hunter’ sees him redress the balance.
On a couple of tracks the acoustic model is ditched altogether and, even though those moments could be said to stick out like sore thumbs, Morris has clearly upped his game here. The Long Distance Runner and Hopeless are among the best songs he has written to date, under any guise.
Predictably, the mood remains fairly sombre throughout the album. Morris has always been a songwriter who puts his eggs in a basket marked “serially depressing”, and even the cheerily-titled Bright Spark cannot quite lift itself above the parapet of misery and into the clear blue sky above.
This is not a surprise, given the intensely personal nature of Morris’ lyrics, but when he is left to his own devices there is a definite swing towards a dark well of negativity.
The fact that the approach here is not all that dissimilar to his main project does mean that the listener cannot help but wish that a new Her Name is Calla album was imminent. This is especially true given the extra instrumentation provided by the rest of the band, but while that project readies a more grandiose follow-up perhaps this more intimate effort is the perfect fare to keep fans sated in the meantime.
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