Lush romanticism, married with a melting pot of musical styles, informs a confident and commercial new album from a musical couple in control.
In his excellent Rough Guide to Country Music, Kurt Wolff devotes a chapter to the Nashville Sound. In his introduction, he charts its emergence back in the late 1950s as: “Goodbye fiddle leads, hayseed routines and nasal voices; hello string sections, background choruses and smooth sophisticated singing. This country-pop blend – or countrypolitan, as it came to be known – worked like a charm, as far as record sales and radio listenership were concerned”. And he goes on to point out that, despite the scorn from some purists, this gave rise to many beautiful recordings from the likes of Don Gibson and Patsy Cline, and later, Charlie Rich, and even George Jones and Merle Haggard.
It is not an insult, therefore, to see the latest release from Ferris & Sylvester as harking back to that countrypolitan sound. It is awash with orchestral and harmonised backing. Make no mistake: the carefully crafted and lush instrumentation is a key component of this record; all the tracks on the album are also available as instrumentals.
However, up front and centre are the winning and emotive vocals of Issy Ferris, and the excellent, Seventies rock-god guitar work of Archie Sylvester (who also weighs in with some vocal leads of his own, as well as backing Ferris). There is a whole mix of genres at work here; country, rock, pop, blues, folk, prog, ‘easy’ (whatever that means), and probably more. That sounds as if it could be a mess, but it isn’t. It is all combined in confident and committed style. It helps that Ferris & Sylvester are extremely experienced live performers, as well as now being a contented couple with two children, busy with their own studio in the West Country.
The pair have been together for 10 years, and in that time, have created quite a buzz as ones to watch. This is their third full-length album release, released, like its predecessor, on their own Archtop Records. It means they have full control.
The record kicks off with It’s A Joy To Be Alive, about the glory of being in love, and a life together: “It doesn’t scare me to get older.” Plenty of strings, backing vocals and electric guitar provide a very full sound behind Ferris’ strong voice. There is almost the feel of peak Glen Campbell to the arrangements. The lyrical mood shifts with Jealous, which is a buoyant pop song, but one with a darker message about an imbalance of feelings in a relationship: “I wish I could make you jealous of me.”
Sylvester takes effective lead vocals on The Game with an earworm of a chorus, before Ferris joins in. Meanwhile, Tiny Little Love is, on the surface, a smooth pop song which conjures up the impeccable arrangements of The Carpenters while actually relaying the anxiety of their first child’s premature birth while on tour in Nashville: “Tiny little, terrifying love, we’re gonna be alright..” Strange Thing continues the worrying trauma of that life-changing experience: “I feel your heart beating/Strange things are happening to me…Come on baby stay close to me” with Ferris telling of her trepidation, before Sylvester intervenes with an effective guitar solo, leading into more impassioned vocals.
5-4-3-2-1 ups the tempo in a song about what sounds like a dysfunctional relationship: “He’s got the upper hand/He’s a well-respected man,” but “I’ll take him on” and by the end “She’s got the gun“. Peach Tree Street is more of a classic pop song, with Sylvester taking lead vocals, imparting an optimistic message about life on the eponymous street. Stupid and Young again conveys the smooth elegance of a Carpenters song with its melodic and lush backing harmony vocals, and unabashedly romantic theme: “I want to wake up by your side every day of my life.” Fishing Song is a duet about love being enough, which includes a whistling break (eat your heart out, Andrew Bird!): “The only thing we have is time.” Lucky Night is a guitar-led, rocky blues number one could imagine Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa pricking up their ears to, with the old-fashioned message: “Tonight is your lucky night.” The album concludes with The Sun Will Shine, with Ferris putting across an optimistic message (“I know the sun will shine today”) while backed by a swelling string section, interrupted by Sylvester exercising his guitar chops. This could be a Dusty Springfield song.
‘Middle of the road’ is often a sneering slur when levelled at popular music, but is it really a crime to produce a melodic and commercial sound with exquisite vocal harmonies and arrangements? And, as pointed out in this review, the lyrical (and musical) content here covers ground both deeper and wider than the often simplistic themes of MOR songs. This is an album which will have wide appeal, and one can imagine it pleasing audiences from Radio 2 to Radio 6 Music. It is a confident pitch for mainstream success, and it will be deserved if it succeeds. Ferris & Sylvester are still ones to watch.
