Reviews
Artist:Art Block Album: Stones And Fire
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 10
Website: https://www.artblockmusic.com/
According to the press release, "Stones And Fire", is Art Block's debut album, but that ignores a stripped back studio live album that emerged back in 2019, so lets call this his first full studio album.
Like many singer-songwriters that have emerged over the last decade or so, Art has honed his craft, both in the studio and across his performances with a series of singles and EPs of both songs and instrumentals establishing the East Londoner as a writer who has honed his skills will, not just technically, but also in ensuring that the emotion and feel of a piece reach the listeners ears to flirt with the emotions as much as the narrative does.
The album does bring in some recordings from his earlier works, "White Horse" being a good example, one that shows that Block is an artist that believes in giving the songs the space to breath, rather than trying to shoehorn them into a more genre specific sound. Across "Stones And Fire" songs drift across indie and rock influences, even taking in a more electronic sound along the way. There's even times when you feel a song takes a nod to a cinematic or theatrical performance.
There is husky, smoky element to Block's voice, that works really well on the more stripped back songs, such as the title tracks, but I found that on the more dramatic numbers it sometimes didn't gel quite as well, for me it created a contrast that didn't quite work, but not enough to detract from the well composed narrative.
Having only heard Art Block is those shorter formats, it was really interesting to hear him stretching his obvious talent across a full album and he comes out the other side very well indeed. "Stones And Fire" is an album that's well worth the explore and one that really shows the psyche of a songwriter.
Neil King
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