M Craft - Blood Moon

The Guardian 80

(Heavenly)

What is it about log cabins and pop? Ever since Bon Iver came along in 2007 with For Emma, Forever Ago, hordes of musicians have retreated to wood-based solitary confinement in the hope of similar inspiration. Martin Craft’s third album – and his first solo outing since 2009’s Arrows at the Sun – is the latest to take this tack: he ended up ensconced on the edge of the Mojave desert, surrounded by “otherworldly silence”, while he made Blood Moon. Said environment has been fully absorbed here. With its twinkly desert aesthetic, tracks such as Love Is the Devil recall obscure DC slowcore band Canyon and their 2002 album Empty Rooms. But there’s less dusty American rock here and more night-sky prettiness, with an emphasis on piano and Craft’s melodies recalling British folk traditions as well as US ones.

Thu Jun 23 20:45:06 GMT 2016

The Guardian 80

(Heavenly)

Like Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago, singer-songwriter M Craft’s third album was made in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. It’s this, perhaps, that gives the songs their ghostly quality, whether it’s the hushed, cosmic folk of Afterglow or the twinkling opener, New Horizons, on which all the instruments slowly come to life. Throughout, the Australian is a calming presence, contemplating love while staring at the stars, his voice evoking Sufjan Stevens circa Seven Swans. Sonically, however, Blood Moon stands alone as a perfectly judged synthesis of conventional songwriting skills and detailed, cinematic music that revels in the silence between the notes. Superb.

Sun Jun 19 07:00:02 GMT 2016