Blue Rose Code
Album: The Ballads Of Peckham Rye
Label: Ronachan Songs
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.bluerosecode.com

Album number two for London based but Edinburgh bred Ross Wilson, aka Blue Rose Code, and this time he's brought some friends along for the ride. Danny Thompson's bass is a notable punctuation throughout whilst Karine Polwart, amongst others, lends a vocal cord or two. Happily these guests merely serve to accentuate the record rather than become the focus there of, leaving Wilson' guitar work and lyrics at the forefront of the album.

As the follow up to 2013's North Ten, The ballads of Peckham Rye wears its heart firmly on its sleeve and has themes of reflection and yearning at its core. 'Edina' is a call to home and almost an urban re-working of Dougie McLean's 'Caledonia'. 'Oh North' follows a similar vein but bounces along in a gospel tinged celebration of everything north of the border, as Scotland is revered "with every Saltires curl". 'One Day At A Time' is a summery toe tapper, lyrically suggestive of a demon fronted (and perhaps conquered) with dignity and no little amount of remorse. Thankfully the emotion-laid-bare essence of the song, and indeed the whole album, is consistently endearing and steers well clear of the type of self-indulgence that could alienate some listeners.

Album highlight 'True Ways Of Knowing' recalls Tunng at their percussive best with a raft of hand claps and finger clicks underpinning slide guitar and keyboard atmospherics. With lyrics based on a poem by Scottish poet Norman MacCaig it sums the album up perfectly with its wistful outer layer and happy, hopeful centre.

There are very few singer/songwriters out there who can make a record as personal as this and still appeal to a mass audience but Blue Rose Code have that ability in spades and if justice prevails we'll be seeing Wilson and his cohorts spoken of in the same terms as other modern troubadours such as Chris Wood before too long.

Rob Fearnley