David Gray

Now that David is going to play in Canada again his album draws more attention as well. Here is a review published on February 5, 2010 by the dailygleaner.

David Gray tells 'tales of life and growth'

Published Saturday February 6th, 2010

Wilfred Langmaid

David Gray is a veteran of the music business. He was already 10 years into his career when he had worldwide success with the 1999 album White Ladder and its hit single Babylon.

Several solid albums have followed in this millennium, the latest of which is Draw The Line.

Gray's first release in four years, and his first with a whole new band behind him in the studio and on tour, the 11-song album is marked with piano and acoustic guitar based compositions.

This approach is, in actual fact, the hallmark of his career work. The exception was the blend of acoustic pop with electronic orchestration and beats which marked White Ladder.

Draw The Line's instrumentation is an ideal backdrop for Gray's always-interesting lyrics and his warm voice which is all the richer as the grown-into rasp of a 42-year-old man.

The most widely-appealing material on this album is the upbeat stuff. It is on these nice groovers where the new band is most obvious and Gray is particularly energized.

Drummer Keith Pryor quarterbacks a rhythm section in the album-opening Fugitive, allowing both Gray's piano and his vocal plenty of room to groove and move.

Elton John images are conjured up in a good way on this one. Stella The Artist propels along in a similar fashion.

That said, the more typical material is still mellow melancholia. The title track is just one example. Nemesis has relatively thick orchestration, while Transformation is simply piano-cored. Mandolin by Gray's guitarist Neill MacColl is the foil in Breathe, while strings join piano with a boogie undertone atop Jackdaw.

A couple of collaborations are also of particular note. Kathleen is a piano-centred waltz which benefits from understated but lovely backing vocals by Jolie Holland.

The album-closing Full Steam sees Annie Lennox trade off vocals with Gray in a combination that works far better than one might first expect.

Full Steam is also the song which sees Gray come closest to the strident lyrical tone of his early career work.

Taken as a whole, this is an album of vignettes - an album filled with tales of life and growth.

The style and the artist will fit like a comfortable glove for fans of the artist in particular and the singer/songwriter genre in general.

Fredericton-based freelance writer Wilfred Langmaid has reviewed albums in The Daily Gleaner since 1981, and is a past judge for both the Junos and the East Coast Music Awards. His column appears each Saturday.

I was reading a review of DTL on PopMatters and the reviewer stated that on LISM David Gray was basically turning the wheel.  I read this is another review in some free weekly out of Chicago and elsewhere.  Wonderful that I think his masterpiece isn't rehashed and exhausted. I have been slow to take up this new album, especially because there are at least two horrible songs here (DG must agree because neither are played live - though he doesn't seem to be playing Full Steam, which should be a live jem), but I still fail to see it as a departure from previous work.  I still fail to see what he achieved by finding a new band.  I think it had to be personal. Sting quit his band because he couldn't control his drummer.  

 Anyway, the new album is fine.  Harder has grown on me to the point where I hope to hear it live in Milwaukee (but really hope to hear Destroyer).  good night, sean.  

well thank the lord above that our everpresent optimist has finally come around!!

don't get your hopes up on destroyer..........but do look for freedom I hope!

not going to re-hash all that but will simply say this band is as tight as any in david's career if you ask me.......the chemistry between david neil and robbie is immense and keith has settled in big time and as I have said before is annoited the new hardest working man in the business....his talent is exceptional

The band is very tight. Maybe lacking the personality of the earlier band (Clune), but it seems to support his new image and it should be obvious David wanted a step away from the electro-folk thing Clune was going for. But in any case the new band is taking far more interesting approach to David's songs. Lot more variety to them than David used to do before.

I agree though that his new album really isn't anything new, I mean.. it's still the same old David. It's kind of between the somewhat overproduced sound of LISM with it's big arrangements vs the folkier, simpler stuff he used to do. It's a shame the album doesn't really reach the quality of it's predecessor songwise. Few highlights like the amazing Fugitive and Nemesis and some other fairly good tunes. But also a lot of boring stuff like Transformation etc. Destroyer and Fugitive had me hoping for more.

How many years since DTL? I finally like Stella The Artist.  I like the verses so much that I can overcome the silly chorus.  Or maybe I mean unimaginative.  Or maybe I'm missing something that would allow me to appreciate it the way I appreciate hearing the chorus (and verses) of Hospital Food (these songs are similar to me).  I missed something in Nemesis that I found last month on a long trip as the fall leaves were changing colors (it comes early in the arctic). I still don't think it's classic (especially his live rendering which lacks the punch of Nightblindness), I think Jackdaw is smarter than I ever gave it credit for and see it as an answer for the now ridiculous  This Year's Love (which I only bring up to get davidcotyalex happy) - though obviously one's a piano ballad and the other isn't.  And if it's a piano ballad you're looking for we should demand to be hearing Second Halo in concert - not TYL.  The album is excellent - my interest in LISM has waned considerably (save for HF, NaA, FHYCASTS, T1IL) - except for the absolutely awful, unforgivable Transformation.  And I tried.   Well - I'm just waiting for the new album. Also - one final plug for Phosphorescent - who opened the spring DTL tour. I still listening to their flawless Here's To Taking it Easy.  David has good taste in openers.  Take care y'all.  

DTL is still my favorite album as a whole.  I don't know what it is about the album, but I listen to it start to finish the most.  Other albums I always skip around wanting to hear one song before another.  With DTL I just start.....and keep repeating the entire thing.  Even with double the songs on Foundling, I still like DTL more. 

Of course, a new live release from the tour this year (Live in Dublin like, but a complete show) would definitely overtake that top spot in my collection!  After seeing him in Omaha, I just can't get the beauty out of my head!   :-)