(2020) Nick Jonah Davis - When the Sun Came


Review:
For multi-instrumentalist Nick Jonah Davis‘ fourth album of solo guitar exploration, he self-recorded the material at the Atlow village church in Derbyshire and mastered it himself at home. These may be small details in the creative process, but when listening, the space and calm that resonates throughout the majority of the songs bring a new feel and energy to Nick’s playing. In a way, this record is a natural follow up to 2016’s House of Dragons in that it takes all that is ace about that album and hones it into a more sophisticated and finely nuanced set. There are also echoes of this year’s Placebound Spirits EP, especially when considering the haunting wildlife field recordings lurking behind the lovely slide track Whistle on Woolf, part of a more experimental second half. The first half is also slide heavy, with opener When the Sun Came immediately drenching the ear in sunlight. In a way reminiscent of the title track from Marisa Anderson’s Cloud Corner album, albeit more restrained, this gorgeous tune is pure optimism and leads us nicely into second piece Goodfellow of the Riverside, a more complex and layered tune, with darker undertones. Like with When the Sun Came, the pacing here is leisurely for the most part, but a sped up mid-section lends the tune a more anxious and uncertain feel, giving it a more dramatic edge. For Ramsons, Nick incorporates a thumbed bass string rhythm (you can just about hear a pleasing little buzz) more in keeping with the American Primitive style of guitar playing he has adopted in the past, lending steadiness to a fresh and lively piece. Sticking to the running order, Like a Teardrop brings in some eastern flavour and a subtle drone mixing with soft reverb brings a brooding mood to the song. This one, completing a quartet of slide pieces, is a far cry from the brightness of When the Sun Came and nicely introduces a more maverick second half. The Muckle Master, a great little distorted electric guitar piece with a gnarly intro that surprisingly shifts into a quite upbeat melody, begins the second phase and slips into acoustic piece The Peacock Dance, the longest at over five minutes. Although this one demonstrates many nimble finger-picked lines throughout, Nick again opens up plenty of space during pauses and shifts in pace that, with the cavernous feel to the space that the church setting brings, gives it poise in places and considered movement in others, much like the title suggests. Towards the end of When the Sun Came is the brilliantly titled Delta Suey, which sees Nick slide a chopstick underneath the seventh fret of his Fylde guitar and pluck at it along with using a slide to great effect, creating a ramshackle piece that brings to mind C Joynes‘s playing. Pebbles in the Brook is a far cleaner song, using the church’s organ to give a beautiful meditative feel to a slide piece with a pensive fingered refrain cut with high notes. All Them Symbols finishes the album with knitting needles and dulcimer hammers working with Nick’s Weissenborn. More disparate than Delta Suey, this percussive tune uses echoes, chimes and space to create drama and mystery. — folkradio.co.uk





Track Listing:
1.When the Sun Came 03:05
2.Goodfellow of the Riverside 03:45
3.Ramsons 03:29
4.Like a Teardrop 03:13
5.The Muckle Master 02:49
6.The Peacock Dance 05:11
7.Whistle on Woolf 03:04
8.Delta Suey 01:53
9.Pebbles from the Brook 03:44
10.All Them Symbols 04:38


Media Report:
Genre: acoustic, folk
Country: UK
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits