Friday, May 26, 2006

You are the Music

After heralding the arrival back on the music scene of M Craft back in March, it’s great to finally have his album come out. And it’s been worth the wait. Mind you, there’s a good few familiar tracks there. The three songs from 2004 that I had on my last post are all on the new album (Sweets and Dragonfly from his mini-album I can see it all Tonight, and Emily Snow which came out on 7 inch only).

There’s so much to enjoy on this album, and it has such mainstream appeal that it would be a crime if he didn’t cross over big time. I know there’s a bit of a crowded market for singer-songwriters these days, but I reckon Martin Craft has got the edge over most of them.

Take the range of his music. There’s the lovely, intricate, subtle melodies of the likes of Silver and Fire, Teardrop Tattoo and Dragonfly. But what’s this? A funky bassline wobbles into earshot on You Are The Music, and it ends up almost inviting us to dance. He even does his own take on the ever-popular ‘epic indie’ style on Love Knows How To Fight, surely a Brixton Academy lighters-out moment, possibly only scuppered by his use of the eff word. Maybe someone can fix that – they did for Radiohead.

There’s more funky drumming on Sweets, and he even attempts Springsteen style stadium riffing on the start of Lucille. Surely this man has ambitions beyond the 40 or so people reported seeing him in Manchester the other night. And if there’s any justice in the world, his ambitions will be realised.

Download: M. Craft - Silver and Fire
Download: M. Craft - You are the Music

Buy Silver and Fire at Amazon.

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