Reviews
Artist:Nigel Brown Album: Freedom Beats The Drum
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 15
Website: https://www.nigelbrownmusic.com/
London-based, Brown has a background of composing library music and documentary soundtracks as well as solo albums of his songs, this being his eleventh. Musically, the core touchstone is the shimmering jangly folk rock sound of The Byrds and Dylan, evident from the get-go with 'All Love Matters' and the chugging 'On A Different Day' with its message of not giving up because everything can change while 'All In All' takes the tempo down a touch with dreamy West Coast burred vocals and extended instrumental play out.
One of the more acoustic tracks with a self-confessed Lennon inspiration, 'The Feathers Of Her Wing' marks Brown's use of lyrics that are often more impressionistic than descriptive ("In the sky you're flying through the rainbow/Hiding in the feathers of her wing/She shines her light onto your pillow/All your life is in her hands"), but then it's back to McGuinn-like 60s folk rock with 'Where The Fields Go', a love and loyalty song ("There's nothing to keep you here/You've lost your will to try/These city lights throw your life around/Like a stone that's skipping by…Now is the time to/Go where you're going/I'd never let you go/Promise you all I know/Follow you where the fields go").
The circling acoustic strum title track is essentially about moving forward and letting go of the chains that prevent you ("I'm done with taking prisoners/I'm done with all that stuff/Praying for forgiveness/It never is enough…Someday you'll awaken/When freedom beats the drum/Maybe you'll come running back/Under the morning sun").The fingerpicked 'Might As Well' marks the halfway mark with shades of Simon & Garfunkel, its lyrics about living in a cabin though the winter months waiting for spring when everything comes back to life, though that reborn optimism is undercut in the last verse of "Some walk on oblivious/ Carried by their faith/But all I feel is uncertainty/And fear that I'm too late".
There's many a song about burning bridges, but ' Single Bridge' is about the one you don't that provides the path to salvation ("Your life can be rough/But don't give up/You're over it now…That single bridge that you never burned down/Has turned your life around"). One of only two tracks that go past the four minute mark and another with Lennon echoes, the steady-paced, slowly building to fade strummed, strings and piano-accompanied 'Waiting For You' is about being content with a simple life and trying to survive ("I'm not looking to win/I'm just trying to get in here/I've not come here to explain/I'm just trying to remain the same…I'm not looking for control/I'm just searching for a soul mate/I'm not here to compete/I'm just hoping I can sleep tight …Maybe you're looking for a friend/We're all equal in the end game/If human nature has a heart/Then you won't leave me in the darkness").
'Beyond Reasonable Doubt' is a simple fingerpicked number that strikes a thematic contrast in that it plays as a cautionary warning about getting involved with the narrator ("But nothing is free/It's no mystery/So don't you be fooled/Into breaking the rules/Don't tangle with me/ Somedays I feel so old/Sometimes my heart feels so cold/And you never know/Which way I'm gonna go/Which version of me/You'll get to see").
That more downbeat note continues with the Petty-ish 'Light In My Heart' that has him "Riding away/To another town/Hope I can make it there/Before the sun goes down… Just a matter now of time/Doesn't matter that I've wasted my whole life/It's just a matter on my mind/Sat on the bridge/The river below/Rain clouds coming now/It's time for me to go") but quickly shifts to one of optimism in the saving power of love ("I'm gonna find her/Sure as the dark/Will find the morning/Light in my heart").
It heads to the end with two more of a Paul Simon persuasion. 'Love You Well' plays like a 60s folk protest song of political disillusion ("Conspiracy theories rise/Hit you right between the eyes/You don't know who to trust or believe/It used to be so cut and dried/Maybe cause our hands were tied/We never had the freedom to explore…The history books have been hijacked/There's no use in turning back/Someone tore the pages out/The false messiah finally came/Brandishing an eternal flame/But it did flicker and fade/Hidden by a crown of thorns/Heckled by the thunderstorms/Nobody can save you now"). Then comes 'Four Letter Words' with a similar mingling of despair and hope through love ("Fate has passed me by/I'll never know the reasons why/But for now, we will mend/And we'll meet here back at the end…You seemed to prove/With every move/This love was meant to be").
Filtering 90s Brit Pop, it comes to a close with an acoustic Noel Gallagher slow walking strum on the four-minute plus 'Nothing's Wrong' about rising from the ashes of a love lost ("woke up to see you leaving/In my heart I'm still believing/But my eyes would not tell lies I know/Only hope is you'll regret it/Or maybe someday I'll forget it…Find my feet it takes forever/Hope and faith can make me better"). Finally, striking a similar influence and theme, there's 'Your Life Is Gonna Change' ("Staring at the pavement/Looking for some change/Hoping for directions/And every face the same/They never had your attention/It never was guaranteed/Now all that you've forgotten/Is everything you believed/Your life is gonna change…Stand up lay low/I'm so glad to see you go/Pick your feet up and walk on/The whole town is in your shadow"), as it builds to a powerful instrumental outro. The drum beats strongly.
Mike Davies
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