ARCH GARRISON isn't a bloke or (I think) a place. It's actually the new project from one Craig Fortnam, mainstay with the critically-acclaimed North Sea Radio Orchestra.
I can't say I'm particularly au fait with NSRO, but 'King of the Down' is reputed to be a lot sparser. Well, whether that's the case or not, it's a fine record to get acquainted with on its' own terms.
It's a pastoral outing, as befits a record put together by two people (Fortnam and his partner Sharron) who live in a house by a river near a village at the foot of the south Wiltshire downs. A wheezing dog and a crackling open fire were apparently also essential ingredients to the atmosphere in which 'King of the Down' was created and it's one of those quiet, bucolic treats you should always find room in your headspace for.
Of course, Craig Fortnam has an immediate advantage in that he's a tremendously gifted guitarist. His nylon and steel string picking is a fluid delight throughout, not least on the instrumentals like the opening 'King of the Down' and the relentlessly rolling 'Thames Fluvius'. On the former, his playing recalls the Spanish-influenced playing of Vini Reilly, while his playing on tracks like 'Thames Fluvius' or the undulating 'Roman Road' has a Richard Thompson-ish English madrigal quality.
Stylistically, the album straddles folksy English whimsy ('Roman Road', 'The Days Don't Feel The Same') and a refreshing brand of quirky, idiosyncratic pop, best demonstrated by tracks like 'The Reason Why' or the Blur-tinged 'Stone on the Pound', wherein Craig swaps his original urban base (“take a walk from East Cheam to the cricket ground, that's how the routes go down”) for his new rural landscape (“let's see what's underground, feel our roots go down”) and takes great delight in the feeling of well-being provided by the change.
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The arrangements themselves remain strategically sparse. Fortnam's guitar playing provides the supple backbone at all times, while his trusty Philicorda organ, the odd splatchy synth and hand held shaker fill in occasional cracks. It all adds up to one of those rare scenarios when the sum seems far greater than the parts and there's still room for the occasional surprise like the deceptively sleepy, Elliott Smith-ish climate change ballad 'The Vapour Trail' or the harrowing mental upheavals so vividly described (“they held you down as they cuffed you and took you down”) during the striking 'Here's to the End of the Road'.
He brings us full circle courtesy of another immaculate instrumental called 'The Pouch', but he's already home and dry long before that. As 'King of the Down', Craig Fortnam may have swapped the hard-edged urban landscape for a softer, blurred vista of fields, mounds and Roman Roads, but he's a benign ruler who clearly holds his rustic subjects in high regard. Long may he reign over his dreamy, romantic kingdom.
Arch Garrison on MySpace
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