Paul Armfield And The Four Good Reasons
Evermine

THE REVIEW

"But why did I buy this album?"

I keep asking myself this question as Paul Armfield’s voice smoothly spreads in the air, weaving the deceit of his music. Indeed, a deception, because this English singer-songwriter skillfully masks a common lack of ideas behind a series of elegant, worn-out sounds, cloaked in twilight, managing to capture attention just enough for a distracted background listen. Beyond that, however, there is really very little to talk about.

The nocturnal and relaxing musical atmospheres of his songs, swinging between an overused soft-jazz and a very classic and refined form of folk songwriting, seem to evoke authors like Leonard Cohen, occasionally overflowing towards musical forms too close to both Tindersticks and Lambchop, yet failing to develop the same (inconsistent) charm of the models, risking instead to fall into stereotypes, into clichés. In doing so, our artist mixes piano, guitar, banjo, harmonica, keyboards, and mandolin, with the measured rhythmic support of bass and percussion, relying on unsophisticated and easily accessible arrangements. To this add a series of excellent musicians who complete the picture with great professionalism.

The whole thing is very well constructed, certainly, it can be listened to, it doesn’t disturb, true, but it has neither depth nor personality. It doesn’t leave a mark, in short. Why? It's difficult to give a clear answer. Perhaps these feelings of mine arise from the fact that the paths Armfield has ventured onto have been extensively trodden in the past by many musicians, and today it's not enough just to evoke them to boast of having done something memorable.

Sometimes perhaps it's necessary to have the courage to betray those paths just enough to make them one's own. Here it doesn't happen. Here we find only a well-played, well-constructed album, but ultimately not very significant. And honestly, listening to works like this seems a waste of time to me. So, I don’t know why I bought it and to say I would just need a good reason, four really seem too many. I know for sure, though, that I no longer want to listen to it. I stop writing and take out the CD. Suddenly, I feel like listening to "Songs Of Love And Hate" by Cohen. Another world.