David Francey
Album: Late Edition/The First Set
Label: Greentrax
Tracks: 12+19
Website: http://www.davidfrancey.com

Ex-pat Scot, living in Canada since 1999, David's one of those singer-songwriters who seems resolutely to cling to that familiar "best-kept secret" category, no matter how much he's feted by fellow songwriters and the audiences on his UK tours who are captivated by his warm and charming personality. Songs such as Saints And Sinners, Paper Boy and Fourth Of July have been covered by other artists, and are good examples of his best songs, possessing a ring of easy familiarity that should ensure their wider appreciation. Perhaps the UK release by Greentrax of his newest - ninth - collection, in advance of his upcoming UK tour, will change things for David and bring him better (and yes, overdue) recognition.

It delivers every bit as much as his previous records, even though 2005's release The Waking Hour was a hard act to follow. Its basic theme is David's reaction to news in all its facets: personal, local and national stories, and provides further evidence of his innate understanding of his fellow human beings, their lives and their situations. This latest batch of songs, all self-penned (three jointly composed with Kieran, one with Lori Watson), date compositionally from 1994 through to 2010. Here David's attractive singing voice is fleshed out by the supportive instrumental work of friends Kieran Kane (octave mandolin, banjo, guitar), Fats Kaplin (fiddle, accordion), Richard Bennett (bouzouki, electric guitar) and Lucas Kane (drums). The easy ambience David conjures is deceptive, for his apparently simple and effortless creations prove on closer inspection to be very carefully crafted examples of art concealing art. Nowhere more so, perhaps, than in the brief acappella song Borderlands, a poetic celebration of a winter's day. But elsewhere too, from the beautiful, flowing Solitary Wave and the delicate reflection on what might have been Wonder, to the tenderly devotional Grateful via the wry classic-country duet with Kieran When I'm Not Thinking About You and the sparse, rockabilly-styled self-aware meditation High Wall, contrasting with the tough I Live In Fear (a homage to the film-maker Kurosawa) and the ambiguous, if honest Long Brown Hair, this is another classy Francey collection. Its only real downside is its undue brevity - only 30 minutes of music, which makes me feel distinctly shortchanged.

Simultaneously with Late Edition, Greentrax have licensed David's 2005 live set from Folk Alley, The First Set, for UK release; this is a good demonstration of his rapport with an audience, and although the easy charm of his unashamed back-stories-and-all presentation is an accurate record of his stage personality it's really one of those releases that's destined for fans only. It does, however, give us a reasonable (if now out-of-date) overview for the benefit of those recent converts who don't possess David's early albums, in presenting nine good songs whose compositional dates range over the six years from his first CD Torn Screen Door to the then-most-current The Waking Hour.

David Kidman