Mark Wilson "Play with Fire" (Independent 2005)

This is a schizophrenic record with an abrasive confrontational side and another gentler more contemplative personality. At times he deals with the blues, deep blues that hurt and draw blood, the kind for which eternal suffering is a measure of relief, the kind that leads to shredded fingers and a shredded heart. There is a primitive quality, immediacy, not the raw scrape of Jawbone, but it certainly isn’t making any compromises. Then there are the other songs - ‘New Horizons’ sounds like Jack Johnson might if he hadn’t lived a charmed life, ‘Realise’ starts almost like a lost Beach Boys classic with a harp giving a ghostly feel. The only thing more dangerous than an obsessed fanatic is a schizophrenic fanatic, and here you never know what you are going to get. (In)sanity is restored: ‘End of the Line’ has only guitar and finger percussion as a blues riff circles nastily. By the time you get towards the end and you hit ‘Enemies,’ you realize that it has been a journey, you’ve travelled somewhere and arrived at Damien Jurado. A beautiful stark folk-pop song receives a touching fragile vocal and finally you’ve been drawn into this dual world - you can’t really want much more than that from a record.

Date review added:  Monday, February 06, 2006
Reviewer:  David Cowling
Reviewers Rating:
Related web link:  Mark Wilson Website