★★★★
Ben Mason recently paid tribute to The Zombies with a purist reinterpretation of their 1968 album Odessey And Oracle. The attention to detail that draws together separate songs to make a multilayered entity is a big part of that album’s enduring appeal, and this quality has left its imprint on Mason’s new LP.
The trilling strings of cinematic opener ‘Birds On The Wire’ conjure an image of animated bluebirds, while horns and woodpecker-like percussion introduce the pastoral folk-pop song ‘Help The Best Things Grow’. The tongue-in-cheek Americana stylings of ‘Suburban Cowboy’ lead into the ‘scarecrow trilogy’ (‘She’d Need A Heart’, ‘I’d Bring You Sunshine’, ‘Esmerelda’), where a suburban garden scarecrow comes to life – it’s not as creepy as it sounds; more of an offbeat love story that’s actually rather sweet.
For the first time in his solo career, it’s hard to imagine any of these songs on an album by The Smallgoods, Mason’s former band.
Harmonies have always been a big part of his sound, but the vocals are stripped back almost completely here, revealing a singer-songwriter who has found his voice and made the most of the album format to showcase it.
Ben Mason’s She’d Need A Heart is available on BMR.
