Jesse Welles — Patchwork

I highly recommend this collection of traditional acoustic country-folk songs. Jesse Welles is a gravel-voiced guitar picker with a harmonica rack round his neck, so let’s get the inevitable comparison with Dylan out of the way before going on to observe that there is a range of influences at work, I believe I can hear bits of Nick Drake, Neil Young, Nirvana and Elliott Smith here and there (although the latter might be due to my fanatical devotion to ES: I see his face on my toast). There’s no wilful obscurantism here, just plain-speaking, deceptively simple lyrics delivered via functional yet catchy melodies — like Dylan but not on acid. Impeccably judged variations keep things from getting predictable.
The opener New Moon sure is pretty, but really the rest of the album is just as good — it’s not easy to pick highlights on a record as flawless as this. Horcrux deserves a mention — it’s a well-stocked hamper full of bluesy hooks and cool turns of phrase — it’s just a shame that the guitar solo so closely resembles some of the runs on Innit to Win. But that’s a quibble (if they didn’t appear in consecutive tracks, I might not have noticed), there’s no way I can score this any less than 10/10.

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