Album review: Cold Moon by James Thomson

One of the endlessly fascinating things about music is how several artists may have the same influences - sometimes even identical influences - yet when they produce their own music it not only doesn't resemble their contemporaries' but is distinctively their own.

Newcastle singer-songwriter James Thomson has Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie and Townes van Zandt amongst his influences, as do many other artists, even Australian artists. Yet what Thomson mainly seems to have taken from these three is the fact that they were individuals: they had their own voices, they had stories they wanted to tell, and they did it regardless of whatever the fashion might have been at the time. Such is the case with Thomson, too.

Thomson's style tends towards the blues end of country, but by 'blues' I mean that the ghost of Robert Johnson is loitering on Thomson's verandah, waiting for a singalong. There is a crack and ache in Thomson's voice that belies his years, yet there's also the odd note that recalls Jackson Browne. And if all this sounds like it's adding to up a whole lot of derivative, that is not the case any more than it is for any musical artist - by which I mean all of them - as every artist is a product of their influences. At any rate, I prefer to think of such things as a lineage rather than an influence. Thomson's lineage is clear, and he's also an individual: the way he works with that lineage is his alone, especially if it's considered within the context of Australian country music.

The songs on Cold Moon are mostly laidback numbers which nevertheless were obviously not put together in a laidback way. There's smart songwriting and performance here. There's also a voice worth paying attention to, intimate enough to call you close but just guarded enough to not reveal all its secrets. Such voices always leave you wanting more, as is the case with this album. Thomson is a sophisticated singer and songwriter who not only respects his lineage but respects his songs. He lets them do what they need to do and he doesn't get in their way. Again, the mark of a true artist. Cold Moon is a piece of art.


Cold Moon is out now through Laughing Outlaw Records.
jamesthomsonmusic.com

Album review: James Thomson

James Thomson's eponymous debut album is the right amount of country, folk and blues, and could probably be categorised as 'Americana' if one were forced to pick. This doesn't mean that it's hard to identify what's going on - just that Thomson seems to have a few influences and he isn't reticent to combine them, depending on what the song needs. There's a bit of Townes van Zandt and a bit of Ryan Adams, and a bit of honky tonk, and they're all welcome on this record that makes you want to do nothing so much as curl up and listen to it. 

Thomson has a great voice - warm and smooth with a slight edge. It's an 'old' voice, in that it sounds like its owner has seen a lot of life and is bringing that to bear in the stories that he's singing. So it's hard to believe that Thomson is in his early twenties, because it doesn't sound like he's borrowing these stories - he sings them like they mean something to him, that they are his.

The album starts out with a wayward harmonica that leads us into a series of tracks that go up, and then down, in key. By the third track, 'Not for You (Odds & Ends)', we are in Thomson's quiet heart, and that is largely where we stay. This is not a raucous record - it is often gentle, and slightly melancholic. Some of the songs have a reassuring swing that never turns into a swagger. It's not hard to imagine Thomson sitting on a stool in the corner of a bar, simultaneously entertaining and observing the patrons.

This is country music in a largely urban setting, and given that there's a large city audience for country music, that is not at all a problem. Indeed, it demonstrates how the genre can adapt to all kinds of material - it does not require open plains and endless sky (although they're nice to have) - and perhaps even how it allows all sorts of stories to be told in a way they couldn't within other genres.

This album is a very strong start for a young artist - one can only hope he continues to write and play for many years to come, and that there will soon be another album of this calibre.

James Thomson by James Thomson is out now from Laughing Outlaw Records.