Mike Longmore – Under The Ice Album Review
The brilliance of the music is only aided by the strong vocals, soft when it needs to be, powerful when it needs to be.
rating: 4.5
The folk music scene comes with many preconceptions. The first is the notion that the music consists of whimsy filled songs about a distant farm once tended to by the singer. The second is the notion that the music consists of mournful songs about a long lost love far across the sea. A third being that to class yourself as a credible folk/acoustic act you must possess an array of hats, an over the top bushy beard and have spent 8 years in an abandoned forest where you whittled your guitar out of tree sap. Despite seemingly only in possession of one hat, no hair and a guitar he bought in a shop it doesnt stop Mike Longmore, an folk artist, from entering not only a credible entry with his self produced album Under The Ice, in spite of not having all clichés folk in his locker, but an enjoyable listen whose only crime is that there are only seven songs. It can be argued though that the albums greatest strength is that it doesnt allow itself the time to get tired and repetitive like many albums tend to. Each song seems to bring something new to the consistent flow of easy listening guitar. Be it the clickity-clack (technical term) of a pace inducing beat or the gentle twang of the odd electric guitar riff, each song seems to offer a genuine change in style to the previous whilst still formulating an overall individual identity. It does however, make the taste needed to enjoy this impossible to pin down, some songs are true folk/acoustic genre entries, whilst others have interesting additions musically that give the album a wider scope. Waves of Comfort for example hosts sounds not unlike something you would see in a jovial walking sequence in The Lion King, its interesting, and its effective. The brilliance of the music is only aided by the strong vocals, soft when it needs to be, powerful when it needs to be. The balance is in perfect harmony for an artist, although new and self-produced, at ease with what music he is trying to create. No better examples are shown than in the mellow and personal Woman Of Four Seasons, and the more outgoing and confident Your Only Hero. The album consistently strikes positives throughout, whether it be vocally with intimate numbers like Silently To Rest, or musically with efforts like Bobs Dobro. The only issues with the album lies with sometimes inconsistent production, glitches happen infrequently but enough to detract from the song, unfortunately it is a consequence of not having a large studio and a squad of vocal and musical editors there to enhance the experience; but the fact that the album rises above these little inconsistencies is not only a compliment to the confidence being displayed by the song writer/singer, but the quality that is on display. Listen to the song Woman Of Four Seasons below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVcUMIGCCzY Under The Ice is available on Amazon.