This is the second album by the English musician formerly of
The eponymous “Song For The Road” contains the best lines in the whole album, (though there isn’t too much competition), “Now I don’t like using words like forever/But I will love you til the end of today/And in the morning when I remember everything that you are/I know I’ll fall for you over again”, a sentiment that gets down to the bone of things without tripping itself up. The rest of the song is lovely, mainly piano and Ford’s voice with slight female backing vocals and horns appearing at the 2mins 30secs mark.
Last but not least, indeed best of, the good songs is “Requiem”. The best showcase on the album for Ford’s songwriting, this track is spectacular. The song builds from plucked guitar and Ford’s voice giving off rhymed verses. Gradual electric guitar and violin accompaniment, drums thud in with reverb. Ford’s bile builds throughout until we get the last verse repeated twice with a massive avalanche of rocking sound, electric guitar freak out and hard strumming. Horn blasts, a repeating piano note that slays, just like the one in “Rebellion (Lies)” by Arcade Fire, and to top it off Ford’s vocals are put through a megaphone. Anti US government lyrics and such are ok but not essential to feel the full force of the song.
So, those are the positives. The negatives are dominated by the constraints Ford’s voice places upon the tone of the album. Yes, it is a dynamic and often powerful thing, but yes it does lend a uniformity to the often melodramatic style of the album, “I’m Alright Now”, “Train”, “St Peter” and “Nobody Tells Me What To Do” all suffer from this. A lesser point of negativity is the incongruity of his Americanized lexicon, with “nickel”, “gas” and the switched definition of “decimate”, all of which sits uneasily next to the thoroughly English sounding voice and music.
Think of David Ford in the same terms as Tom McRae or Liam Frost, a male singer/songwriter/troubadour that plays a similar game to Blunt/Morrison/Nutini/Faulkner but uses different rules. There is a feeling of thought and process behind the former artist’s work, whereas the latter seem to be content to be bland and to regurgitate both lyrics and songwriting.
Links
David Ford [official site] [myspace] [buy it]
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While not quite up to par with his debut, I enjoyed Songs For The Road. Also, it made me cringe to see David Ford compared to James Blunt. James Blunt can’t do this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv4QBRS-U50
Fuck, that’s a GREAT video.
I was only really using Blunt as a signifier of how Ford might fit in to the music scene for someone who doesn’t really know that much about him, (like me for instance). I don’t think I actually compared their skills/talent, in fact I say that Ford is clearly in a different league in that regard. But to me there are some undeniable similarities between the two. I definitely think there is nothing as interesting/good as that song you posted, on Songs For The Road.
Hey great blog!
I’d love it if you checked mine out, just started it a few days ago. I will be posting Mon-Thu every week, hopefully!
http://nmsles.blogspot.com
I write mostly blurbs and ramblings about music every day, and I want to start doing some more album/song reviews when the time comes. I would really appreciate a comment or some feedback! :) thanks!
:) That’s one of my favorite videos ever. I think I read too much into your Ford/Blunt comparison. It’s just that I cannot STAND James Blunt…
If you haven’t heard David’s debut album (I Sincerely Apologise For All The Trouble I’ve Caused) you should check it out. The style is much the same as the new one, but the songwriting and lyrics are a couple steps above Songs For The Road.
Well, I will most definitely be keeping my eye out for it from now on.
Love David Ford, found this video for one of his newer songs today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0wOkiOMlDE