(2018) Simon Linsteadt - February
Review:
As lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for indie Americana band Steep Ravine, twenty-four-year-old Simon Linsteadt has quickly established himself as a prolific and engaging songwriter fluent in a wide variety of genres, from folk, to rock, to jazz, to bluegrass. Linsteadt’s third solo album February is contemplative, gentle, and at times light-hearted, weaving threads of folk atop a mellow indie rock/pop atmosphere.
Recorded at his home studio Stormy Deep Studios, Linsteadt played all instruments on the album including guitar, bass, piano, organ, percussion (with the exception of drums played by Alex Bice of Steep Ravine on two songs) and more. Of note is Linsteadt’s use of thrifted and otherwise less than perfect instruments. Capitalizing on the musical character inherent in each, they provide background texture and tonality to Linsteadt’s compositions. An old Kingston bass from a pawnshop was stuffed with a sponge at the base of the bridge to get a punchy, dry sound. A heavy Baldwin organ, with more than a few mechanical failings, makes its way into the background of several songs providing a nice soft tone. A free Craigslist antique miniature upright tack piano was spared from an inevitable fate with a dumpster, and given renewed life on the tune “When The Cows Get Out of The Road.” After the songs were recorded, Linsteadt took the tapes to San Francisco’s renowned analog Tiny Telephone Studios, where they were mixed by engineer Jacob Winik. Whether it’s the urgent lyrical repetition and fervent harmonica on “Something That I Need,” the haunting nylon string melody subtly punctuated by a marching snare drum on the title track “February”, or the gentle cascading piano melody on “Crazy Ride,” Linsteadt’s songs are driven by melody with a strong emphasis on lyricism, rich and unanticipated harmonic motion, and arrangements that are at once colorful and restrained, intimate and expansive. Artful fingerpicking amplifies the tender caress of Linsteadt’s vocals on “Pickleweed” and “Vulture,” and the brightly flat-picked instrumental “New
Morning” is uplifting like the first light of a brand new day. This album exudes relaxed California cool, which is just as well really as the artist is a native of
that State. Without the knowledge that this was a new release it is likley that you would assume that the music here hails from the early 70’s. There are many comparisons that can be made such as America, Poco (indeed Linsteadt’s voice is not unlike that of Timothy B Schmit) Seals & Croft and almost all of the Laurel Canyon brigade. There is a gentleness to the whole work which is essentially acoustic demonstrating Lindsteadt’s guitar skills.
Linsteadt has recorded six studio albums, some with a group called Steep Ravine and appears to be your architypal singer-songwriter of the folk tradition. Of the nine tracks two are instrumentals and one of these The Alien is five and a half minutes of pure heaven. You are almost defied not to drift away and fall to sleep – a good track to have on at the end of the day. Something That I Need also stands out for special mention. It has almost no additional lyrics apart from the title but has a great chorus hook and harmonica piece and is different in the context of the album by featuring drums and electric guitar.
So you will have gathered by now that this is not a sit up and hit you album but one that you need to listen to with time on your hands and preferably a glass of wine or whatever beverage takes your fancy. It is a really good piece of work which will be enjoyed by fans of the relaxed sound on offer with no really poor tracks although one or two more pieces to round the album off would have been welcome. Perhaps the well of inspiration just dried up in the chilled out mood.
Tracklist:
01 - Pickleweed
02 - Vulture
03 - February
04 - Crazy Ride
05 - The Alien
06 - Something That I Need
07 - When the Cows Get Outta the Road
08 - Long Time
09 - New Morning
Summary:
Country: USA
Genre: indie-folk
Media Report:
Source : CD
Format : FLAC
Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : ~ 715-886 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
