It is always refreshing to discover a new talent and in Gary Edward Jones and his debut album, The Cabinet Maker, this is very much the case and further underlines the fact that Liverpool as a creative life force of its own is very much alive, kicking and exploring new ground.
From the opening lines of the self-deprecating opener, Free Falling, to the closing Blues-vibed Vampires, what Jones has managed to create is an ambient, multi-emotion stirring master class in musicianship, vocalisation and lyricism that is bound to resonate with anybody who listens.
The use of acoustic guitar and subtle-yet-powerful harmonies on songs such as on the insightfully scintillating new single Bang Bang, the suggestive quality of All I Want Is You which brings across the immediacy of Jones’ passionate embrace of the personal and the rhythmic quality of Is This Real would not feel out of place on any Stevie Wonder album released in the past 10 years. As for the up-tempo, hope-filled grandeur of Real Life Paradise, it only begs still further why this guy isn’t more widely recognised.
Yet it is the sheer simplicity and overall brilliance of Mr Lonely Times which truly marks Gary Edward Jones as a composer of exemplary gifts and is a song that will have its listeners searching for comparisons in the “it’s sort of like whatsit, only better” kind of way.
Gary Edward Jones is at Liverpool’s Constellations and The Observatory on Thursday 28 April 2016. I for one cannot wait to see him perform these and so much more.
Gary Edward Jones
The Cabinet Maker
Orchard Records
PR Rating: **** Heartfelt & Magical