LIGHTHOUSE

I am not a big fan of this " Folkish" styling, for starters, yet being a Colin Edwin avid follower, I acquired this IAMTHEMORNING, 2016, "Lighthouse", in which he (among Gavin Harrison), is featured.

Anyway, I am quiet realistic about the whole thing. I am not expecting something beyond IAMTHEMORNING's natural means of music songwriting expression (as their previous 2 releases), but eager for some extraordinary performances in those morning lands.

Well as expected these "high level" performances do happen and quiet frequently as to expand the music composition itself to other depths.

The Folk/Rock style covers most of its general musical atmospheres. The sweet female voice introduces every tale like composition and from there each story develops both in direction and environment, yet the acoustic instruments are almost ever present, including a story telling piano counterpointing the sweet voice's lyrics.

If music comparisons allowed, it all feels like a less experimental Judy Dyble and more than once overly sweet for its not that high epic like momentums. But as I mentioned I am no big fan of this styling.

Rating it in the same tenor is unfair, in fact I hate those reviews where they start the same boasting how they do not enjoy or completely ignore the artist or style they are reviewing and rate the whole thing from their own personal guts. Well I would not fall in those pits!

Excellent performances that construct very solid and intelligent musical structures that somehow always find their way home to simplier and more earthly flavors, which are unique in their FOLK/JAZZ/ROCK music idiom, as also offering a more than a fair share of stylistic detours and stopovers to keep its predictability to the minimum. And of course the sound engineering is superb.

Up to know my favorite "iamthemorning" release and a perfect addition to my collection.

****4 PA stars.