The new album from Nick Garrie, The Moon and the Village, out today on Tapete, is a special record. It is, unfortunately, the sort of thing that may slip under the radar without a little bit of extra attention, which is why I'm here today to write about it.
Garrie has worked with Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub in the past but here he's being helped by Gary Olson of The Ladybug Transistor. The textures on The Moon and the Village are warm and inviting, and what could have been a folk record, for example, is now something else, something stronger. If the title number suggests a debt owed to the late Leonard Cohen, the superb "I'm On Your Side" reveals the influence of Mick Head. Elsewhere, strings creep around "My Dear One" to place the number somewhere near something like a John Cale composition, while the beautiful "Early Morning in the Garden" marries Garrie's Cohen-like observations (and delivery) with backing music that is poised somewhere between the ache of Nilsson and the lyrical wit of Randy Newman. Nick Garrie manages to make this work so well as he remains such an engaging player, delivering the spry "Bacardi Summer" and the doleful "Got You On My Mind" with equal degrees of mastery.
The Moon and the Village is the sort of album that is not entirely easy to describe, seeing as how it skips around a few genres with ease, but it is a superb record, and one that's quite easy to recommend. Out today, this new Nick Garrie offering is one of the most heartfelt and warmly human releases of this Fall.
More details on The Moon and the Village via Tapete Records.
[Photo: Alison Wonderland]