Much is made of the home recording, self-production and analogue mastering of this album, on which singer-songwriter Damon Vingoe crafted and chiselled, grafted and whittled a set of songs that would capture the spirit of songs by artists he admires like The Byrds, Nick Drake, and Glen Campbell.
Vingoe definitely has an ear for melody, and not only has be avoided the trappings of modern production, but also resisted the temptation to clutter his simple compositions with superfluous incidentals or layers. What he gives us, then, is an album that's pure and simple. That isn't to say it's crude or naive. But then, it isn't to say it's particularly exciting either.
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There are some examples of sweetly lilting vintage pop, such as the jangling, Byrds-like 'One of These Days' but all too often the gently picked acoustic guitar and soft, melodic vocals are just too undemanding to hold the attention: 'Flow' is seriously soporific, I can feel my eyelids grow heavy during 'The Night' and the harmony-filled 'So Tired' is like a lullaby. I am feeling very sleepy... Pleasant, but ultimately nothing more.
Conrad Vingoe on MySpace
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