Reviews

This album needed to deliver. After the tepid ‘A New Day At Midnight’ three years ago, Gray needed to reward the faithful who have been waiting for this new material, and also convince the skeptics that ‘Babylon’ is not just a fading highpoint of an unattainable former glory. And so we have Gray’s first album that wholeheartedly embraces the kind of studio production that ‘A New Day At Midnight’ so sorely needed.

From listening to the ten new songs on the album, it is obvious that Gray has eschewed the perhaps tempting commerciality of a ‘White Ladder Part II’ for something that both challenges himself and also moves us, all without failing to satisfy on the deepest of levels. Steered confidently by the production of Marius de Vries (think Madonna, Bjork), Gray visits new sonic depths and emotional vistas. Take, for example, the sparse and sweeping simplicity of ‘Now And Always’ that starts with a mournful harmonica entwined with reverberating piano to great effect. Gray demonstrates his range here, before the song melts into a rich, bass-led crescendo enabled by the de Vries’ production.

In other places Gray is unashamedly honest in sharing his darkest thoughts and emotions. ‘The One I Love’ is written about a man slowly bleeding to death, Gray sings of regret and crushed hopes, “There’s things I might have said / Only wish I could / Now I’m leaking life faster / Than I’m leaking blood.”  Elsewhere Gray talks about the emptiness of life in ‘Ain’t No Love’, where he sings of failed ambitions and dreams, “Somedays I’m bursting at the seams / With all my half remembered dreams.” “From Here You Can Almost See The Sea’ is perhaps Gray’s most poignant song yet, as Gray’s falsetto soars delicately over softly-picked acoustic guitar.

So, maybe not earth shattering, but compelling none-the-less. Gray has created his most consistent album yet – and by doing has provided further evidence that he will be around for some time to come. That’s a good thing, because this album is simply beautiful.