Martyn Joseph
Album: Songs For The Coming Home
Label: Pipe
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.martynjoseph.net

It's hard to believe that it is 20 years since I bought 'Being There', I seemed to have 'Dolphins Make Me Cry' on repeat a lot back then. I don't know why but I didn't buy any thing else of his so when it was a bit of a shock when 'Songs For The Coming Home' hit the doormat and an even bigger one when I found out that he has released eleven studio and almost the same number of live albums since then.

There is something comforting about Joseph; his voice is rich and warming - like a hot cider at a festival when you're wondering how it can be quite so cold in the middle of summer. His songs range for the simple guitar / harmonica arrangement of 'Still A Lot Of Love Around Here' with it's singable chorus (and addition of choir to sing the song out), to the bouncy 'Feels Like This' and the epic rain tinged album closer 'Archive'.

'Songs For The Coming Home' is everything you would expect from an artist with the wealth of experience that Joseph has and I now have two decades of catching up to do.

John 'The Jacket' Hawes