David 9 Lunas

I came across David 9 Lunas playing a support set at London’s Green Note and he has popped up from time to time at Proud Galleries or various pub gigs across London. He has been talking for a little while about releasing some of his songs on an album and finally here it is and I am happy to say that it is absolutely lovely.

I would probably describe his style as ‘Donovan-esque’ – he has a warm voice and his guitar playing is simple and subtle while his songs have the feeling of a world view that is touched by the joys of the world around us and the people he has encountered along the way.

What is surprising here though is how strong his songwriting is. A number like ‘Counterfeit Moon’ is close miked and his voice has darkness and depth in it but the words are so deeply bleak and his guitar picking so simple that every word hits you squarely between the eyes.

Elsewhere he touches on lighter material as on the title track which is beautifully folksy or the hippy-dippy ‘I See An Angel’ but he is at his best with the material that allows his voice full rein or the songs that he fully draws around him – ‘Dread Indian Blues’ sees him boogying with real joi de vivre.

One of his best live songs has been ‘A Book That is Still A Tree’ and here it takes on an ethereal grace and density before the album closes on some very angular steel guitar jive on ‘Jitter Boy Blues’.

An album that hits the marks through craft and joy rather than calculation and all the better for it, Britain seems to have a decent number of solo performers making their way at the moment and David 9 is one of the most deserving of a listen.