Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The sound of strings has its own mystic, it is almost universal, and yet played by a unique heart it can convey every emotion from melancholic to the reflection of joy when the crescendo is reached, as profound emptiness is replaced with the miracle of birth; it is as if those scientists with theories of the structure of our existence have the notion of concept completely nailed down, that string theory is in essence the very fabric of music.
The fiddle, bass, and the guitar are to be found at the soul of Kyle Carey’s latest album The Last Bough, and it is soul of tender sensitivity, strings accompanied by the sense of the compassionate percussion, whistles and flutes and vocals that inhabit what could be considered the realm of the ethereal, the persuasive tones of hearts ignited as new life is formed from the heavens, and the reason for the hope that gives rise to expression of eternal emotions.
Written over a three-year period, and with abundant musicianship from Anthony DaCosta, Christian Sedelmeyer, Jamie Dick, Sam Howard, Mike McGoldrick, and with the resounding Ruth Moody and James Gàidhlig supplying backing vocals, Kyle Carey’s The Last Bough is an album of clam sweetness, the amber that flows with not a single person avoiding taking a sip, daring to be involved in the process of life eternal.
It is to the genuine focus of the music that the listener finds themselves immersed in the dream like expression, a poetic offering which encounters the unavoidable truth, that with continuance comes a kind of everlasting, whether it is through knowing nature’s resilience to see spring’s smile past winter’s furrowed brow, or the birth of a child, songs must come to implore the soul’s renewal.
Across songs such as Theia’s Gaze, The Sere Wind, Eden’s Grief, the outstanding finale in Armour’s Mystique, and the underlying passion in Nach Muladach, Muladach Duine Leis Fhèin, a track which captures the presence of reveal in oneself over time, Kyle Carey’s stunning voice is an inspiring sense of control and emotion freely mixing, balancing, but distinctively matchless.
The Last Bough is ultimately an album of respect, of understanding that hope must flourish in all guises, never to be worn down or doubted, one that Kyle Carey resolves with justice and time.
Ian D. Hall