Alex Vann
Album: Silhouettes and Pirouettes (Volume 4)
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 14
Website: http://www.alexvann.net/

The fourth episode of Alex Vann's "Silhouettes & Pirouettes" project finds Alex enhancing his songs with a band's worth of extra musicians. Alex wears his fragile and introspective heart on his sleeve, his musically complex arrangements (and some unexpected chord progressions) paying tribute to a Beatles style.

Alex uses his guest musicians sparingly, playing the lion's share of the instruments himself, and there's a wide mix of musical styles across the track list including: Brit-rock; folk; pop; alternative and jazz.

Highlights (and there are plenty to find) include "Blow Me Down", a worthy diatribe against modern social obsessions, featuring virtuoso guitar work from Pete Kent; the cheerful and thoughtful ukulele folk song "Who We Are" ; the gorgeous simplicity of "The White Rose And The Child" a pretty, mellow piano instrumental; the tasty descending bass line of "Just Another Teenage Dream", and Vol. 4's finest track, "Candles And Wine" - a jazz/blues shuffle recounting the tale of an unrequited lover's attempts at postal romance featuring some sultry, bluesy sax and support vocals from Chelsea Wood.

The jangly "Smile" is all bouncy, infectious surf-harmony vocals, which disguises the gradually creepier plot of a stalker using a security store camera to monitor his inamorata live in-store and, later on, from backup tapes.

The album winds up with "Can't See The Sun" emphasising its stoner tragedy subject with its phased vocals, deliberately odd melody notes, sparse band arrangement, fuzz radio soundbites and a metal solo. I was reminded of PiL's sparseness, intensity and bleakness, and the effect was overall most unsettling - and successfully so.

There are one or two odd things that didn't quite work for me: "The Secret Of Light" has a sudden, up-tempo repeated phrase that stands out starkly as not quite fitting in, and the drums throughout seem rather 'muddy'. But these are rare and minor events and "Silhouettes & Pirouettes (Volume 4)" marks the continuing spiritual and musical maturity of Alex Vann as an artist. It's easily his finest, most rounded and gratifying output to date.

Malcolm Jeffrey