Micah P. Hinson
Album: Micah P. Hinson And The Gospel Of Progress
Label: Talitres
Tracks: 14
Website: http://www.micahphinson.com

I first came across the work of this prolific Texan singer-songwriter a few years ago when I encountered his Opera Circuit album, finding it decidedly strange in so many ways. Quite patchy in invention, I thought at the time (as befits a true maverick), and not easy to come to terms with, and yet deserving of some concentrated effort to get to know. Also, importantly, very much remarkable for the wayward scope of the man's imagination and his willingness to lay his life right on the line, poised so precariously on a musical and artistic knife-edge where the listener feels the sharpness of its blade at all times. I'd fully intended to revisit that album prior to listening to Gospel Of Progress, but to my embarrassment (and frustration) I've completely failed to relocate it… however, that's not the object of this exercise, which is to consider this disc received for review. It's a tenth-anniversary remastered re-release of Micah's very first album, which came out on the indie label Sketchbook Records late in 2004 and, following three sold-out UK tours in that autumn/winter period, went on to be placed no. 5 in Rough Trade's 100 best albums of that year - and then disappeared fast from the racks and has been unavailable for some years until his current label came to the rescue with this new CD edition (and even a vinyl double-LP variant too).

The Gospel Of Progress was a sprawling, ambitious 51-minute beast of an album that charted the extreme emotional fallout from Micah's failed relationship in the wake of a run of equally extreme bad luck arising from a fight against drug addiction, homelessness and employment issues. Perhaps nothing very astonishing for a singer-songwriter, you might cynically think, but the writing is both of epic grandeur and profound intimacy, with Micah audibly clutching at straws of expression and gathering crumbs of comfort from their exposure to the harsh light of the world. His world-weary singing voice follows no specific known s/s template, although its darker shades certainly recall Leonard Cohen (especially the rippling-guitar-backed Beneath The Rose, and You Lost Sight On Me) and several moments of phrasing put me in mind of the more melancholy side of Townes Van Zandt. As far as musical idiom is concerned, Micah draws his inspiration from simple models, creating surprisingly memorable melodies and letting them fly around some often very folk-noir thought-processes. His is a timeless stylishness, and he feels the freedom to move freely between modes and textures, from a barren piano-backed statement (The Nothing) through to the grungy discords of Patience and a full-blown, chorally-backed, keyboard-rich extravaganza (the climax of the enigmatic The Day Texas Sank To The Bottom Of The Sea). (It's also really useful to have on CD here the bonus track Can't Change A Thing, which originally appeared only on the 10" vinyl edition of The Day Texas Sank…)

The Gospel Of Progress ain't easy listening - no sir. And it can at times be too much to take in, certainly in larger doses. But it's worth persevering with. Even tho' some of the album can be almost painful to listen to. For Micah's haunting personal vision manages to connect itself to the listener through the lens of his kaleidoscope of heartbreak, loss and isolation.

David Kidman