When You Are Here You Are Family
This second album by Dubliner Adrian Crowley was recorded in 2002 with Steve Albini, and features recordings made with a pared down band line-up comprising a cellist and a drummer, with Crowley's voice and guitar taking the focus of your attention. There's a hint of Nick Drake about opener 'Tall Ships', although Albini strips the musicians' sound bare with Crowley's jangling electric guitar sounding far frailer than Drake's confident acoustic picking ever did. Considering how dry the instruments sound - not to mention how few they are in number - 'Girl From The Estuary' still manages to sound fleshed out and articulate, benefiting greatly from some big, warm drum sounds and plenty of lyrical cello. Crowley's guitar playing is showcased best on the ornate fingerpicked phrasings of 'Starlings' where his bandmates chip in to create a sound that's not too far from Hood, or even Dirty Three. Thanks to the counterpoint between the beautifully detailed performances of the musicians and the stark rawness of the album's production, When You Are Here You Are Family makes for a rather exceptional singer-songwriter album.
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This second album by Dubliner Adrian Crowley was recorded in 2002 with Steve Albini, and features recordings made with a pared down band line-up comprising a cellist and a drummer, with Crowley's voice and guitar taking the focus of your attention. There's a hint of Nick Drake about opener 'Tall Ships', although Albini strips the musicians' sound bare with Crowley's jangling electric guitar sounding far frailer than Drake's confident acoustic picking ever did. Considering how dry the instruments sound - not to mention how few they are in number - 'Girl From The Estuary' still manages to sound fleshed out and articulate, benefiting greatly from some big, warm drum sounds and plenty of lyrical cello. Crowley's guitar playing is showcased best on the ornate fingerpicked phrasings of 'Starlings' where his bandmates chip in to create a sound that's not too far from Hood, or even Dirty Three. Thanks to the counterpoint between the beautifully detailed performances of the musicians and the stark rawness of the album's production, When You Are Here You Are Family makes for a rather exceptional singer-songwriter album.
This second album by Dubliner Adrian Crowley was recorded in 2002 with Steve Albini, and features recordings made with a pared down band line-up comprising a cellist and a drummer, with Crowley's voice and guitar taking the focus of your attention. There's a hint of Nick Drake about opener 'Tall Ships', although Albini strips the musicians' sound bare with Crowley's jangling electric guitar sounding far frailer than Drake's confident acoustic picking ever did. Considering how dry the instruments sound - not to mention how few they are in number - 'Girl From The Estuary' still manages to sound fleshed out and articulate, benefiting greatly from some big, warm drum sounds and plenty of lyrical cello. Crowley's guitar playing is showcased best on the ornate fingerpicked phrasings of 'Starlings' where his bandmates chip in to create a sound that's not too far from Hood, or even Dirty Three. Thanks to the counterpoint between the beautifully detailed performances of the musicians and the stark rawness of the album's production, When You Are Here You Are Family makes for a rather exceptional singer-songwriter album.