NME once said that Peter Bruntnell’s songs should be taught in schools and that seems perfectly reasonable for one of the UK’s best songwriters. For today’s retro Friday video, we don’t travel back in time too far, just to 2016 and Bruntnell’s brilliant ‘Mr Sunshine’. This was the opening track from his excellent ‘Nos Da Comrade’, an album that displays his immense ability over a range of styles, including the near 9-minute space epic ‘Yuri Gagarin’. ‘Mr Sunshine’ was written in response to the controversy surrounding the displacement of a fishing community in Scotland so that Donald Trump could build a luxury golf course in an area of Aberdeenshire that had been declared site of scientific interest. Director Anthony Baxter made a documentary about the issue, ‘You’ve Been Trumped’, showing the friction between Trump and the local population. The video of Bruntnell’s song is worth watching if only to see ‘Donald Trump’ dancing on the green.
The quality of Bruntnell’s work is lauded by the likes of Willy Vlautin and Jay Farrar, who recognise the great and consistent quality of his songwriting and musicianship. His most recent album, 2021’s ‘Journey To the Sun’ was decribed by Americana UK as: “…profoundly contemplative, lucid songwriting that is melodically rich and beautifully produced,” in an outstanding 9/10 review – check it out here. When delivered live, these songs are truly impressive, particularly the tuneful and doom-laden ‘Dandelion’ and the atmospheric ‘Lucifer Morning Star’. Enjoy.
