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There is hardly an attempt at commerciality in evidence on Tim Arnold’s latest offering, just a collection of effortlessly heart-wrenching songs, acoustic and percussion free. On the other hand there are few hooks either, and it’s true that affectation does creep in to some tracks, most notably during ‘Something Special’, for which Arnold’s singing approaches the over cooked style of a Pop Idol also-ran too desperate to please. To criticise some of the lyrics may also be tempting but would unnecessarily besmirch an album whose every song is a heart-achingly honest show of feeling, and at a level of honesty that can be cringe worthy in itself. If you can overlook lines such as ‘I sold tomorrow to yesterday’, your tolerance will be rewarded. In terms of raw emotional translation it puts the James Blunts of the world in a place far beyond the shade.
Arnolds voice rings with the tones of faux Americana, particularly for opener ‘If You Could See Hope’, which is resonant of Del Amitri’s more poignant efforts. More impressive is the intense and baroque flavoured title track, more akin to Everything But The Girl this time, due in large part to the understated soulfulness and faint, androgynous quality of the vocal. The comparison is even stronger for ‘Close Enough’, but from hereon the quality of the string arrangements is what really raises the songs above standard singer songwriter fare. The natural reference point for the use of strings in this manner is Nick Drakes’ ‘Five Leaves Left’, but whereas in that case the orchestration tended to add a little too much melodrama, in the case of ‘Another World’ the strings, though ever present, show far more restraint and compliment the songs perfectly. The result is an album of honesty and beauty from an artist not afraid to expose his innermost feelings in all their naked glory.
RICHARD STOKOE
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