Langhorne Slim

This album has been on the edge of my consciousness for a couple of weeks as I tried to make up my mind just what the hell is so good about Langhorne Slim.

His songs are coming from the Americana side of Singer/Songwriter and he has a voice that really isn’t great – slight and high(ish) pitch – and he has a tendency to a rather whiney sound but the overall effect, especially when his band kick in and push the ‘Anthemic’ button or he slows it all down and you find yourself nodding along with his pace is just bloody wonderful.

He has a way about his playing that at low levels is delicious but, unusually for a singer/songwriter, gets better as you turn the wick up and there is enough variety in his songs style to avoid the one-paced pitfalls that many others tend to fall into..
‘Back To the Wild’ has echoes of the great British songwriters of yore while ‘Land Of Dreams’ shuffles delightfully as the banjo kicks in but ‘Cinderella’ kicks along with real punch and very sixties-mod sort of jaunty bounce. Standout number for me is 'For A Little While' - it just seems to encapsulate all the good things about his writing and the playing is terrific.

The word on Langhorne Slim has been that he is very much on the up and this album seems to confirm his arrival.
It took some time to work him out but in the end it comes down to one simple fact – he writes good songs and plays them brilliantly.