- Iain Matthews must have a Dorian Gray
style recording of a really awful sounding folk singer in his
attic. How else could you explain the fact that he still has
the same warm clear voice heard on early Fairport records and
his classic 1970's albums? He has also evolved into an accomplished
songwriter with a fine line in cynical invective as demonstrated
by the stand out track on this mini album 'To be White', a bitter
snipe at the 'white man' in all his 'hang & flog em' racist,
xenophobic forms.
- Plainsong are now stripped down to a duo
of Matthews & fellow founder member Andy Roberts who contributes
laid back vocals & various stringed instruments including
warm, vivacious acoustic lead guitar. Aside from a Yo La Tengo
cover and a trad. arr., songwriting chores are shared evenly
& include Roberts' 'Wordplay' an amusing take on the spoken
clichés in relationships (and too many song lyrics) &
Matthews' 'Big Rumour' . The songs benefit from an uncluttered
production and relatively sparse arrangements supported by sensibly
minimal percussion programming by Roberts. The whole disc almost
has the feel of a demo and sounds all the better for this.
- Well worth a listen & may leave you
eager for a full album of new material. - certainly does (pc)
- James Hibbins
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