Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Whilst some will insist that life is bruising, perhaps even enough to cause severe discolouration across several layers of skin and vital organs, we should arguably be declaring that life is delicate, fragile, and one that often requires the sympathy of repair as much as the attention given to those who seek the assurance of major surgery at every opportunity, the ones who have every minute aspect of their mind exposed to the daylight who place their being on display in a manner that stapling shut rather the fine detail available by the Needle & Thread.
It is in presence of intricacy that we develop the eye, that the muscle of observation becomes keener, sharper, ready to pick up on the details that a larger full scale, and often invasive surgery of the emotions, the soul and the heart would benefit from. Sometimes all you need is the consistency to be precise, and to use the needle and thread to make the smallest of repairs, the one to which the soul and the mind will be thankful for.
Music and art in general are the great healers, even in the midst of chaos and uncertainty they provide the comfort of silk and a loving hand in which the suture of time becomes a trusted therapist; and so it is for the collection of songs to be found in the expert hands of Dom Prag as he lifts the mask of expectancy on his latest release, Needle & Thread.
To understand the feeling of healing strength delivered by a practitioner of the traditional classical guitar, is to feel safe, to know there is an expert on hand, a specialist of the occasion on call, and one who is ably assisted in the operating room of the music lover’s soul by producer Phil Beer, and the nursing harmonies and musical additions of Rowan Piggott, Rosie Hodgeson, Odette Michell, Tom Evans, Joely Koos, and with consultant of a drum track provided by Rich Prag.
With an album containing seven traditional tracks and three original melodies, Dom Prag cuts through the noise and offers a tranquil, but insightful appreciation of lyrical drama and enthused creativity that will have the clinic and the listening crowd in the waiting room joyful of the respect placed before them, and as tracks such as the striking arrangement to be found in Van Dieman’s Land, the superb and haunting The Brisk Lad, Oakey Strike Evictions, the modern day heartbreak of The Shoemender, Come All You Fine Young People, and the album’s title track of Needle & Thread are inserted as reminders and musical pacemakers for the listener to keep intact, so the pulse keeps running, so the invisible mark of excellence is applied, and all because of the delicate persuasive nature of the clinician baring the Needle & Thread.
An album of absolute quality, the gift of a yean that makes the listener yearn for more; Dom Prag is a musician’s musician just waiting for you to make an appointment with.
Dom Prag releases Needle & Thread on February 25th.
Ian D. Hall