The Sea Within

Unfortunately it's precisely my disliking of his vocals that has kept me away from fully enjoying this new recording (hope he would save himself for choirs only)

It's a good album, but not a particularly memorable one. Tracks flow over me somewhat - with just the odd musical highlight shining out. The vocal style is okay, but tends to dominate over the instrumentation in the mix, which is rather muted at times, given the calibre of the musicians. At times it almost has a retro-60s 'late Beatles' feel and overall I find it hard to pin a particular identity onto the group. 'They Know My Name' and the latter stages of 'Broken Cord' stand out to a greater extent compared than other tracks, maybe.

As with a lot of albums, I've no idea whether to consider the bonus tracks as part of the album or not when judging a release. Some of these work better than others, but the over-wrought vocals on 'Denise' are heading too close to 'Sylvia's Mother' at times.

Stick it in the background and it is a pleasant enough listen, but I don't engage with it as much as other recent releases. It reminds me of recent collaborations which I expected more from - such as Squackett or Kiama - which are fine enough, but don't go to that next level. I'll persist with more listens in the months to come, in case it continues to grow, though.