Peter Mulvey
Album: Silver Ladder
Label: Signature Sounds
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.petermulvey.com

Veteran s/s Peter has just completed another ultra-successful UK tour, at around the same time releasing another new album. This once again draws on an eclectic range of musical and poetical influences, in a typically restless, constantly moving musical landscape that eagerly and often unpredictably takes in inspirations from all over the shop.

This latest collection consists of a dozen tautly-constructed songs that nevertheless display a relaxed approach, Peter here now again (after a turbulent stretch in his personal life) fully confident of his expressive abilities. Although still examining perennial yearnings, the language is if anything even more sharp-witted, and the new album has already been described as "the work of a poet who has discovered his inner rock-and-roller". It begins breezily, with a sequence of three punchy, quick-fire and deceptively catchy, pop-flavoured cuts with a full band/ensemble sound that's taken up again later on the disc (Back In The Wind and Copenhagen Airport), before settling into a deeper groove that enables us to appreciate Peter's distinctive deep, hushed drawl for the marvellous instrument it is.

There's a pair of delicious numbers featuring harmony vocals (Remember The Milkman, with Sara Watkins, and Where Did You Go? with Anita Suhanin), the beautiful acoustic-centred Trempealeau, the curious waltzer Josephine and the scattergun, dazzlingly image-rich If You Shoot At A King You Must Kill Him, before the disc closes on the pithy philosophy of Landfall.

Incidentally, the very sound of the album is often quite unlike that of Peter's previous records, in that producer Chuck Prophet has introduced additional instrumental textures like violin, celeste and mellotron that haven't been heard on Peter's records before, giving tracks like Josephine a slightly unearthly aura. But the tight unity of the band performances entirely belies the fact that the musicians were nearly all complete strangers before being assembled by Chuck for the recording. It also says much for Peter's skilled songwriting that Chuck is able so powerfully to realise his complex vision here.

David Kidman