IRL (label)
04 May 2015 (released)
11 April 2015
David Sinclair is something of a polymath – writer, critic, journalist, man about town and musician. But unlike many he actually can talk the talk AND walk the walk and this album is excellent.
He writes his own material and the songs seem to catch him at a point in his life where he is ‘questioning’ – in anyone else these songs might represent a mid-life crisis but this isn’t so much a cry of angst as a wry look at his life.
He writes in a way that reminds me of Ray Davies but there is also a touch of Ian Dury and even Suggs in the way he uses words to bring familiar parts of London into the songs about the moody and the everyday.
He has been playing for years and has amassed a pretty strong list of support slots including Wilko, Marcus Bonfanti, Rolling Stoned and so he has been able to bring the likes of Paul Jones, Maxi Priest, Lorna Reid in and get production from the mighty Livingstone Brown – none of which would mean a damn if the songs and playing weren’t up to scratch but they definitely are.
Musically this sits in the rock canon but there are touches of reggae and folk mixed in as well and the whole album has a jaunty feel that belies songs titled ‘I’m Sick Of Being Good’ or ‘The Illness & The Cure’ but he can be serious as well as he shows on ‘Life Gone Cold’ – definitely a change-of-life song with a Floyd-esque feel.
‘Down By The Canal’ has a light ska/dub feel as he sings about the wonders of Park Royal while ‘World Turns Around’ has him comparing Memphis Tennessee, Chelsea SW3, Woodstock & Brixton – the life of an itinerant music journalist writ large.
It is an album that bears repeated listening for both the songs and the playing, there are moments that people will definitely nod sagely at, recognizing the same trials in their own lives, and that is where it is strongest – an album for real people and very good too.
