Rating: NN
Martyn Joseph delves into the familiar folk of British Isles balladeers John Martyn and Nick Drake. Well, maybe more like Martyn and John Prine – Joseph isn’t quite moody or lyrically esoteric enough to reach Drake. He lacks Prine’s knack for weaving a tale, though. Joseph has the swaying pensiveness of the two Johns sewn up, but how far does that actually go? Not very. The kind of music Joseph makes puts a lot of weight on the words, and if they don’t hold up, the album stumbles. And stumble it does, making too much of too little and expecting us to swallow its “life is a highway” philosophy without a hint of irony.
