David Gray, Gold In A Brass Age - album review

The sheer one-man domination of the airwaves, TV chat shows and charts around that time by the diminutive Sale lad was almost suffocating.

It was deserved. That record – with sumptuous songs like Babylon, This Year’s Love and Sail Away cushioned inside – was magnificent.

Since then, it’s been a little up and down for the singer/songwriter. But he has continued to plug away. And this, record number 11 and the first since 2014’s Mutineers, is a solid if unspectacular effort. Brass In A Gold Age if you want to play on the title again.

A lot of what is here is breezy, pleasing and soft. It soars nicely and meanders hazily, without ever really setting a final destination and arriving at it.

There are some bright moments. The rising, crescendo backing to the chorus in Mallory is both striking and alarming as it rises above the acoustic mainstay of the song.

The opener The Sapling is good too. It’s uplifting and hopeful – what an opening track for an album of this nature should be. The jangling vocals by Gray are warming and secure. They make you feel safe and cocooned from the hardships of the world.

Hall Of Mirrors is well worth a listen, too. A chiming pop song that has a toe-tapping beat propelling its guitars and Gray’s electrocuted vocals. It’s actually a quietly and assuredly powerful number in the way it demands to be heard.

But this is all very much ‘sit down music’ – fitting given his latest tour will see him in Birmingham’s Symphony Hall this month.

A lot of the album is too lite on drama, hooks and reasons to come back for more.

Furthering sounds a little like that drunken stumble home in the drizzle after an unsuccessful night out. It’s too dank and heavy for its own good, and the slow pacing just has you itching for what’s next.

There’s also equally uninspiring moments with It’s Late and, ironically, Hurricane Season.

We want those rousing Babylon-type numbers back please David.

Rating: 5/10

David Gray plays Birmingham’s Symphony Hall on March 29