Dodson And Fogg
Album: Sounds Of Day And Night
Label: Wisdom Twins
Tracks: 14
Website: http://wisdomtwinsbooks.weebly.com/dodson-and-fogg.html

As you'll recall, Dodson And Fogg is a nom-de-whatever for singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Chris Wade, who has an uncanny sensibility for, and knack for recreating, the ambience and musical ethos of early-70s folk-bordering-on-psych. But, this being his third album release, there will have been a significant progression since the charming and often tantalisingly whimsical eponymous Dodson And Fogg debut CD. For some mysterious reason I wasn't sent the second (Derring Do), so without being able to enjoy the luxury of completism I can only say that Sounds Of Day And Night appears to represent a fair advance in terms of general maturity of thought and musical confidence, with an enviable sense of economy developing in the songwriting in particular.

Without wishing to give the impression that it's ever pastiche - more a matter of respect - I might observe that It's All Right crosses Donovan with Simon & Garfunkel; Lonely Little Bird is pure Tir Na NÓg; Morning Love could be Something Else-era Ray Davies; and Lying In The Sun is akin to Lazy Day Moody Blues. The sound-world of Lost In Words kinda recalls '68-vintage Pretty Things, whereas Free In The Night is like a late-Family workout, and Night Train seems almost to hark forward to post-punk new-wave. On one of the album's best tracks, a plaintive trumpet (courtesy of the CD's one guest musician, Colin Jones) ushers in the slightly Floydian, slightly west-coast vibe of Hear It In The Morning Still. By the way, this is but one of the tracks where Chris clearly still can't resist indulging himself in a short burst of prog-rock-style air-guitar solo (and why not?!).

At the same time, there are occasional moments when an apparent desire for melting-pot-mode experimentation goes hand in hand with what might seem a certain indecision as regards artistic direction, which results in mildly sprawling tracks like the decidedly trippy demeanour of the second, lengthier portion of the two-part instrumental forming the disc's title number. Quite typical for a third-album stage in any artist's career, in fact. And that's no bad thing in this age of vastly accelerated CVs. So where to next then, Chris?

David Kidman