Post Description

Pop, folk, world, country.

Set the scene in the first few moments. This is the basic principle an album can work from. It is not the most intense or interesting set to start with, but some are constricted with finding a mood and tone to suit the album cover and working it over for as long as they can. In the case of Richard Walters and their latest record, Murmurate, the mood is set with a sliver of heartbreak on Move On. There could not be any more clarity in this title, nor in the moody tone taken with the track itself. Walters has fallen foul of the basic principle which guides albums to a clear genre but well away from future appraisal as a deeper, reactive record. He has guided his listeners too closely and not let them free to explore his works. 

Planting a passive flag in the likes of All Over and After Midnight – the slip into background music is a ropey situation for Murmurate. It steadies itself with cold fires and historied relationships on Lost in Your Light, but the damage is done. Walters does not recover from the light and brief periods of his music and loses his way to the Lydia Oliver-featuring piece. Her vocals dominate and linger on as a better alternative to these tonal simplicities. Hold onto the love slippng through their fingers, keep at bay the dark thoughts and of course never let it rise above the twinkling piano notes. Murmurate feels a bit by the books to mount any sophisticated or genuine attempt at emotionally true material. There is no doubting the emotive range Walters presents though. 

Hefty track Anchor springs to life before it ends unceremoniously, drifting off into Salt. Broad themes, broader titles, and Walters has no specifics he can relay as independent or wholly himself. These are the tender losses and embraces trotted out on just about every black-and-white abstract release of the last few years – though Murmurate does not have the smarts nor the depth to back up its thematics. But a head-turning change of pace is mounted on Avenues – a roaring success filled with punchy strings and dependable lyrics which bring the crucial difference to tepid discoveries and emotionally open works. Variation. A nicely balanced percussion and fresh tone invite the listener into a series of vocal interjections frankly on a level with the hums of Thom Yorke. It is back to reality soon after, though. 

Country aesthetics and acoustic flourishes on Long Way Down feel frankly inevitable. Deep breaths and slide guitar strumming are par for the course when the emotional damages are raked over the coals and warmed into reflective properties. No such luck for Murmurate though, which drifts back into a distant feeling of contentment far too often to mount any surge of emotional clarity or impression. With troubled impressions on Philip Seymour Hoffman, the track named after the legendary actor fails to mount the same emotional punch the on-screen star would so often do. Skye is a weak ending but at least it uses those ethereal projections of backing vocals neatly and nicely as a way to tie it all up.  

Tracks:
01. Move On
02. All Over
03. After Midnight
04. Lost in Your Light
05. Anchor
06. Salt
07. Open Everything
08. Avenues
09. Long Way Down
10. Atlantic Lullaby
11. Philip Seymour Hoffman
12. Skye

Staat er compleet op, 10% pars mee gepost. Met zeer veel dank aan de originele poster. Laat af en toe eens weten wat je van het album vindt. Altijd leuk, de mening van anderen. Oh ja, MP3 doe ik niet aan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu7EaTNTKz8