Reviews
Artist:Gareth Davies-Jones
Album:Water & Light
Label:Heading West
Tracks:13
Website:http://www.myspace.com/garethdaviesjones
When we heard Gareth Davies-Jones first cut, "Only For A Shortwhile" we marked him down as a singer/songwriter to keep an ear on. "Water & Light totally vindicates that opinion. Gareth continues to rise in stature as a wordsmith. His no compromise approach to getting his thoughts down on paper and out through his songs have been rewarded with one hell of an album.
"Water & Light" is everything that a good folk album should be. It's rich in people and places, politics and social justice. Just as important, it doesn't forget about the human condition and emotion. By doing that it manages to put a perspective on the songs. You can see how people are affected by interactions with other people and events.
"Shoreline Of Ghosts", for example, features the betrayal of the village communities in the North East. The old industries, coalmining allowed to fail for lack of investment, the trawlermen forced into ever declining quotas due to mismanagement by the government that let the coal industry fail. Yet money can be found to make those same villages part of the heritage trail and turn worker's cottages into holiday homes. The difference is that Davies-Jones puts it more elloquently in his verses.
As you might imagine with an album called "Water & Light", the coastline and sea feature quite extensively. "Princess Victoria" recalls the fateful night of the 31st of January 1953, when the car ferry/merchant ship of that name was lost in the Irish sea with the loss of over 100 lives. It wasn't an incident I was aware, but then it's frightening how quickly the Herald Of Free Enterprise has drifted away from the folk memory.
You might think it's going to be depressing album from the content, content that includes a biting comment on the government of fear. Far from it, Davies-Jones knows that if an album's not entertaining, you're never going to play it, no matter what it's trying to say. If you want to be heard you have to reach out to people with good songs and good tunes and it's here that he hits the mark.
"Water & Light" also reflects the human spirit, tribute is paid to those who put themselves out. People that walk sixteen miles to collect medicine for others, those that feel empashioned enough to act, not just complain. Those that live on hope alone will starve. Gareth Davies-Jones has brought the protest song into the twenty first century.
The lead track for "Water & Light", "Borderland" can be found on the Fatea Showcase Session:Songsmiths, available free from http://www.fatea-showcase-sessions.co.uk