From their forthcoming album “Mine At Last”, “Halfway Across” finds CLAYHILL returning with another of those sumptuous, finely-wrought folk-pop creations they’ve quietly made their own over the past three years.
In feel, it’s closer to the enigmatic, organic sound they unveiled with on “Cuban Green” rather than the more complex loops and beats of “Small Circle”, though there’s a new determination afoot and when those tumbling, ineffably funky drums meld with Ted Barnes’ snaggly guitar figure, Ali Friend’s supple bassline and some discreet Fender Rhodes that elusive Clayhill magic once again fills the air.
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As ever, though, it’s Gavin Clark’s gravelly and plaintive voice that really hauls you in. Lyrically, he’s dark, unsettling and oblique (“You’re the last tree standing/ and I won’t cut you down” is the main refrain) and, as usual, his cracked warble is flecked with more soul than virtually any other English singer I’m hearing out there.
A gently triumphant return, then. Just what we were hoping for.
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