I chose to write about this offering from William Doyle because it stood out to me immediately as different, intriguing and also quite beautiful. It's been on my (until now secret) "To post about?" playlist for the whole two months since it was released, and it's taken me that long to properly gather my thoughts about it.
Hearing the lo-fi electronic loop which starts off the song, you might think you know where the song is going. But, it doesn't really ever go there - and that's OK (in that way it reminded me of the Hachiku track I wrote about a couple of months ago).
Instead you get warm synth pads providing a comfortable foundation, nicely offsetting the other sounds which make guest appearances: snatches of roughly strummed guitar, clips of bird-song flitting briefly by. This all takes the song somewhere approaching the ethereal. And all the while, William (the real name of the artist who formerly won acclaim while known as East India Youth) sings gently and melodically.
Add all this up, and it's confusing at times, but also slow-paced and ultimately refreshing, like a passing rain shower halfway through a fine day. So this isn't an inaccessible piece of music - it has a tune which resolves nicely, leaving you feeling that the whole thing actually did make some sense.
It's also quite refreshing to hear a song open with the lyrics of its title - you feel like you know where you are from the start, even if the musical underlay can be disconcerting in places.
This tune is the opener from William Doyle's album titled Great Spans of Muddy Time (best title of the year so far, I'd say, and, believe it or not, a quote from none other than Monty Don). As always, it was tempting to write a longer piece about the whole album, but I think it's fair to say that to do William Doyle's entire record complete justice would be a big commitment. It's a complex piece of work - wonderful, but complex. To get a sense of this, I'd recommend having a read of this interesting review over at The Line of Best Fit, which uses some fabulous adjectives: "bewildering, gorgeous and riveting" is a good example.
Check it out if you've not heard it before.