British singer/songwriter David Ford is one of those musicians you can’t help but scratch your head at and wonder why this guy is not huge? His songs as catchy as hell while still coming across as giftedly witty (give album opener “Pour a Little Poison” 30 seconds and if you aren’t humming along, check your pulse). He can even wear the fedora better than Bruno Mars and all those other top 40 kids who are rocking the vintage headgear ironically.
Charge, Ford’s fourth album, has the difficult task of following up 2010’s nearly flawless Let the Hard Times Roll, and almost pulls it off. There are some slower tracks on this outing, but the former frontman of the indie band Easyworld is at his best when he picks up the tempo (the one exception being the beautifully sweet piano ballad “Philadelphia Boy” an ode to the City of Brotherly Love).
Columbia signed Ford a couple of albums ago and couldn’t be bothered to break him in this country, so it will be interesting to see if his new label, Razor & Tie, can do a better job. In the meantime, pick up Charge and join me in trying to figure out why Ford is not at the top of everybody’s playlist.
