Haunted Heart is the second solo album by Dave Renegade who has been a fixture on the London rock and metal scene for decades, He no longer has the thrash metal aesthetics of his youth, when I first met him at all sorts of clubs and gigs. This album is imbued with the sadness of the last decade, so many friend's, lovers, contemporaries have died, often before they should have, including Dave's life partner. The album was produced, recorded and engineered by Peter Kozanovitch at his Natural Art Studios in Aylesbury, Peter is also the only other musician on the album.
The album opens with the slow morbid tones of Just Because Your Gone (Doesn't Mean I Love You) redolent with the heartbreak and loss of friends no longer around, this has the fragile beauty of Dave Kusworth's most plaintive songs close to its heart, slow stark piano, evocative guitar weaving around it.
The title song Haunted Heart he still feels your presence, even though you've gone and crossed the eternal bridge, you will haunt his heart forever more, Just sitting where you sat, will send him deep into memories of better times together, the pain of being the one left behind, dealing with all the sorrow, finding a way to carry on.
What's Going On With You? Is that moment when you're staring deep into the eyes of someone close and can't figure out just what's going on, what's hidden in those eyes and the power in that stare.
Will the sunshine ever return to your life, can you even explain the pain you're in or how to find a way to sooth the pain away.
I Can't Find You (You're Not There) over a jangling acoustic guitar, pain and sorrow of looking to connect with, or spending time with someone who always helps and supports you, but they are no longer about, can you get past missing them every day, the love you had, the advice they could give you, while they were still alive, life is so scary without you there, this really tugs at the heartstrings of a classic folk guitar riff.
So Many Hearts is bruised and battered, road worn tale somewhere in the Nikki Sudden meets Ronnie Laine acoustic troubadour, eulogy for so many of the great musicians that have left us in recent years, all of whom touched our hearts in so many ways over so long. Absent Friends is a eulogy and song to toast all those we’ve lost and spent time with, from Dave Kusworth and Darrell Barth, The Jazz Butcher and so many more, raise a glass to all those great absent friends, we all spent so many happy days and nights seeing them play or in Dave's case playing music with many of them.
The Emotion Well is where you've been dwelling of late, dealing with heartbreak and loss, hoping for a helping hand to haul you up from the bottom, back to dry land with the late-night picking and strumming echoes of Nick Garrie's emotion wracked playing.
Doesn't Mean A Thing To Me and the overwhelming pain and loss of the love of your life, trying to find a way through the despair, a way to live without your permanent presence of a true soul mate, the awful reality of growing older and losing those you hold dearest.
Scattering The Ashes (Of Our Love) is slow sombre reflections on trying to find acceptance, after your cremation he really will never see you again, he has to say goodbye for good, this could be drowned in whisky, you may need to find some friends to hold hands with to ease the sorrow and heartbreak seeping out of the speakers.
Dark Is The Night acoustic strummed reflections of surviving through one more night of pain and solitary despair, who can comfort you when you feel so completely alone, how to find the solace you seek.
A Tiny White Feather floats slowly through the air to the piano's slow march towards a better place. it may have been your destination after so much pain, finally everyone is living peacefully once more, I'd love to hear this song with a huge string arrangement swelling becoming grander as the feathers journey ends.
Power & Healing echoes downs through Silver Street, tears won't stop falling, healing through the magical power of music, finding strength in the communal power and connection keeping communications alive with those we have lost along the way.
The End Of The Night a strolling bass leads us through the darkest parts of the Night, just before dawn starts to break, western jangling guitar the perfect accompaniment to deaths ballad, finally being vanquished at The End Of The Night with subtle echoes of Peter La Farge.
The Hurtful Kind to awful feeling of being in a cold sweat, trying to deal with all the pain and sorrow alone, you hurt so much finding ways to carry on is more difficult that you ever contemplated. The album closes with Shipwrecks (You & I) floating through life, meeting sailing along together and then torn asunder by the vicissitudes of life, plans torn to shreds while you float away into the darkness, hoping to somehow find a way back home once more.
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