Album news: Aurora by Case Garrett

The amount of music I'm being sent these days is far outstripping my ability to keep up - but instead of being paralysed by choice, I'm going to try to cover as much as of the good stuff as possible even if it means I can't always do a full album review, as these can take a few hours.

Which leads me to this very first 'album news' piece - not a review, but not not a review. A shorter review, if you will.

Aurora is the debut album from Missouri-born New York City resident Case Garrett. This is backwoodsy, bluesy country music that tells stories of travels around the countryside and to Garrett's interior. There is tradition and humour, and Garrett's voice holding true throughout.

I've seen this album described as alt-country but I tend to think that label gets applied to work that is actually quite traditional in its lineage - in other words, not alternative to country. Garrett strikes me as a traditionalist in that you could draw a straight line from his work back a few decades and find its roots. That doesn't mean his music sounds old - it means he knows his country music, and he is drawing on it to fine effect on Aurora.

Aurora is out now.
www.casegarrett.com