Ferraby Lionheart – EP (CD)

“Won’t Be Long” is a track that stands between two different worlds. At some point, Ferraby Lionheart is a current artist and receptive to current developments in music. At some pother point, there are over fifty years of influences that are bringing Lionheart to the style of music that ey creates. The production level is not at the highest it could be, but it is not necessary to bee. The way that the production was crafted on this EP, there is a certain warmth to the fuzz that surrounds each of the tracks. This is the equivalent of putting sepia tones into a picture; it looks or sounds old without necessarily being all that old. This is what Devendra Banhart should be doing with eir music. During a song like the aforementioned “Won’t Be Long”, one can just hear the hints of The Beatles and Pete Seeger struggling in each guitar line, trying to establish who is most dominant in Lionheart’s music.

Even though there are only six tracks on this EP, the styles that Lionheart allows to bubble up are so different from each other that “Won’t Be Long” and “The Ballad of Gus and Sam” are almost unable to be tied together. The latter track finds itself much more in the Weezer camp of things, it’s shoegaze type of rock still having a precedent in earlier styles of rock but much more grounded in the current age than “Won’t Be Long”. Throwing a harmonica in the mix for the instrumental interlude during “The Ballad of Gus and Sam” is another flourish that was not absolutely needed but is something that endears Lionheart to all that might be listening in to the disc.

“A Crack In Time” is a much more bouncy track than either of the two previously mentioned tracks, and it may just be the strummy guitar present that changes things up so much. The harmonica makes its way back into this track, and while it is traditional harmonica fare, it provides a whole new dimension to this pop guitar rock. Ferraby Lionheart is self-made, and any fame that ey may fall into comes from the talent that is pulsating through each track on this self-titled EP. I have no doubt the the full-length will be more of the same, and yet show Lionheart as an artist that continues to innovate with each new batch of tracks on subsequent recordings.

Rating: 6.6/10

Ferraby Lionheart – EP / 2006 Lights and Buttons / 6 Tracks / http://www.ferrabylionheart.com / Reviewed 05 July 2006

[JMcQ]