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- Released: June 2008
- Rating: 6/10
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For many years Dale Grundle has lived in the shadow of Damien Rice.
Much of the mood is similar to Rices penchant melancholy, but doesnt havethe killer tracks to put him up there at the top with his Irish compatriot.
One very attractive element to his work is his bitter-sweet and often achinglybeautiful and fragile voice. Somehow, unless major radio playlists pick up onsomething, Grundle is destined to emulate his involvement with former bandthe Catchers in the late ’90s.
Many of the songs are well-crafted with a charm of their own, but Rice castsa long shadow over tracks like Setting Fire To Sleepy Towns withMichelle Sos cello providing the sadness. Lockkeepers Cottage has assimilar hue with Grundle picking gently his acoustic while So again adds theheartfelt colours.
The mould is broken on the beat-driven and jaunty You And Me… whileMacosquin, Coleraine goes more for the Americana template. This one ispunctuated by handclaps and sprinklings of acoustic driving it to the close.
The pace and mood is lifted considerably for radio friendly Clocks and Clones,making it arguably one of only two that would fare reasonably well as a single.The other is Human Blues, using a stab start as the songs hook.
Keys and drums feature heavily as Grundles sweet vocal glides magnificentlyabove the mellow mood. You begin to think that Sos cello is going to deliverthat moment Rice has mastered, but never happens which is disappointing.Nevertheless its the best song here.
The last two are his weakest songs by far, and his effort to build upa crescendo for Islands falls way short of the intended impact. Apart fromHuman Blues and Clocks and Clones, nothing really gives you the Wow! Factor.
File under: A fair way to go, to hit the spot.
Weblink:myspace.com/thesleepingyears /thesleepingyears.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Setting Fire To Sleepy Towns
2. The Lockkeepers Cottage
3. You And Me Against The World
4. The Shape Of Things To Come
5. Macosquin, Coleraine
6. Broken Homes
7. Clocks And Clones
8. Human Blues
9. Dressed For Rain
10. Islands
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.