This is one of the big revelation albums of 2011. A record that opens up to full bloom slowly and gently, revealing as it does wave upon wave of melodious, textural, layered beauty and warmth. A proper album, at double LP length on vinyl that you can lose yourself to under the headphones, on a spaced out evening or melt into on a hot summers’ afternoon. Best of all, it rewards the repeated listens time and again. The only problem, and I mean the only problem, is that its cultural reference points are so strong that it has at times been swamped by comparisons to them. I mean Wilson lived and recorded large chunks of the record in Laurel Canyon, he’s used a 1972 analogue recording console and a 1969 guitar, he’s performed with David Crosby, Graham Nash and Jackson Browne this past year and even appeared on TV backing Robbie Robertson so he’s hardly shying away from the connections. The similarities in sound on the opening bars of ‘Can We Really Party Today’ to the general laid back vibe of Neil Young’s ‘After The Gold Rush’ album are incredible.The point surely is though, that none of that matters a jot. Just as the current crop of Retro Soul purveyors are following that vintage path because it expresses what they want to do with their music the best, so too an artist like Wilson naturally settles on a period from Rock history when free flowing instrumental excursions, solos and dreamy reflective lyrical tangents were the norm. It’s not limiting because this music feels boundless in its scope. His current workmates are pretty significant too, for people like Andy and Otto of Vetiver (who both feature here) and the Fleet Foxes are amongst the most exciting of America’s current crop of acoustic, Folk-Rock friendly bands. One other flavour that I think comes through quite heavily is Elliott Smith; he’s floating in there somewhere amongst the breathy vocals and melancholy acoustic picking. With this first official debut album (there was an earlier recording in 2007 that didn’t get a proper release) Jonathan Wilson has given us a gift glimmering with the rays of a golden age in music that isn’t for one moment wishing it was 1969. Instead it searches for hope, peace and love in the modern world with the ready acknowledgement that all is not right with the way things are; in doing so he has delivered a wonderful, timeless and extensive piece to cherish forever.
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