James Simmons is A Dancing Beggar and he's been carving a niche in the post-rock world for a couple of years or so now. 'What We Left Behind' is his debut full-length offering.
The album's first two tracks are rather short, rather standard post-rock fare, and while the idea is to lure the listener and coax them in, the result is perhaps a little too tentative-sounding to truly convince.
This all changes on track three, however: 'Sand Between Our Toes' begins with a repetitive strum over which delicately plucked notes melt into ebowed guitars that soar on the distant horizon before giving way to hums and drones that ebba and glow and finally evaporate.
Birdsong and a haunting single chord floats on the breeze that is 'Branches and Nettles,' and it's a pleasant interlude. The trouble is, it feels more like an interlude than a piece in its own right, and '22 Summers' which follows is similarly lacking obvious direction or clear identity.
Perhaps I'm doing James a disservice here: after all, 'What We Left Behind' isn't really about 'songs' as such, and should instead be taken as a whole, as a shifting soundscape of tranquil waters and skies with drifting clouds that transform and disperse. There are some superbly evocative passages, too, such as 'We Flew Over England's Fields' while 'Skinny Trees' is the sound of snow falling played on the piano.
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As it begins, so it ends: 'Llywelyns Remorse' brings proceedings to a close, a slow gentle fade. If I were to be critical - which I am by nature - I'd say that the album doesn't go any way toward steering the genre in new directions, and is lacking in variety and sonic range. Nevertheless, it's well produced and well executed, and a perfectly accomplished work in its field.
http://www.myspace.com/adancingbeggar
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