The second full length alum by Vancouverian David Simard is a dark toned thing. Mordant meditations on love to a funereal accompaniment are the grist that fills David Simard’s mill. So much so that when he deviates from the template – as he does whilst rapping BP on the knuckles for their polluting ways in his native Canada on Good Clean Water – it’s something of a jarring shock that he can be so jovial. For the rest of the album he adopts a sombre and serious facade – with a deep baritone pouring the words out like a treacle river falling over a grit stone waterfall. There’s little room for anyone to doubt that David Simard is a Canadian artist – landmarks pepper his lyrics as on I’m Bad where he croons that “Montreal’s pretty / … / if I could choose a city / to call my home town, I’d choose you”, but here if he loves his homeland he readily admits to romantic failings “I was getting antsy / and you were getting sad / I considered doing fancy / footwork with my bag / there I go – being bad at loving you”.
David Simard has a great aptitude for phrasing – his words chosen with care and, more often than not, twisting with a second meaning. Yet as much as I wanted to fall for this brooding and literate album something held me back. Emotion, raw and sometimes painful, is laid out for display in what can be a clinical and detached way. There’s a paradox here – when David Simard wears his heart on his sleeve there’s still the sense that he’s got that arm behind his back, something is being held back. Am I saying he’s too clever for his own good ? Maybe. Maybe. The closer – Rorschach – seems in a way to analyse this lyrical reticence : “and lover I hope that you know / though the getting to know you has been so slow / I’m looking down the track / another sunrise at my back / And I sing another butterfly wing.” That’s the thing though about those ink drops – they aren’t all butterflies
>>> Please help to support the running costs of Americana UK, run by a dedicated team in our spare time, by donating £2 a month to us - we'll send you an exclusive 20 track curated playlist every month plus the opportunity to win our monthly giveaway. Click here for more information.
Summary
Intense, brooding and as dark and indistinct as the album’s cover.
Be the first to comment