GARY STEWART is not a new artist, his debut album, Boy Cries Wolf, came to light in late 2010, and features Ellen Smith of Ellen and the Escapades putting Gary firmly on the trad folk map. Year and a Day is the follow up EP, further decorating Garys very own back catalogue of rustic and wonderfully accessible songs.
The press release compares the EP to Neil Young's Harvest, and when taking into account Gary's warm, naturally high pitched vocal, you can see why. Year and a Day ebbs and flows in a vacuum of delicate seductiveness, it peaks and troughs neatly and buffering its tenderness from the levitation of the hooks.
Thorns may in particular draw comparisons to Harvest. It journeys freely and though it appears simplistic, its structure is indefinite, building and breaking intelligently with a variety of unsuspected sounds. The EP is at its most rustic during Eve, its affectionate violins caress the vocal, which simultaneously melt and lift (Will you have a drifter's Eyes?) and melt once again.
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There's an unexpected stylistic twist as track three, Green, appeals to fans of instant country barn stormers.We are left with perhaps the strongest track on the EP, Blue, a time stopper jam packed with warm soaring harmonies and romantic imagery. Starting ambiguously contrasts cleverly with the euphoric chorus.
It will be interesting to see how Gary kicks on from here, and indeed which clear path his next release takes.
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