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Artist: Brian Houston
Label: Brian Houston Songs
Length: 11 tracks / 45:21
Brian Houston has been on a journey in his songwriting career and he now reached a place where some of his earliery frenetic pace has dropped off, leaving a mature self-assurance in his work.
The reflective nature of this disc is largely due to the personal events that shaped it. Sugar Queen was written after his wife was diagnosed as having cancer and his mother died. The vivacious alt-country "End of the Beginning" uses a mix of vulnerability, privacy, hope and faith to deal with these bombshells.
Women understandably come to centre stage on this collection and the very fine "A Woman's Touch" celebrates their refining effect on the men in their lives.
Other songs widen his scope, and the indignant account of a young lad murdered for being gay is poignant in a different way.
Houston is often likened to his fellow-countryman Van Morrison, but the likeness is particularly striking on "Childish Things" and "These Days." Both are excellent, beautifully constructed, and vibrant tracks; both ostensibly autobiographical songs have elements of observation that listeners can identify with; and both have been live staples lately.
The disc deals with weighty matters but never drags. The stomp of the title track keeps the pace pace up, and to lighten it completely at the end comes a live bonus track that captures the humour and warmth that so charms his live audiences.
This is one of the best albums that he has put out, full of quality songs wrapped in a crisp, lively and finely-tuned production, where each track is given its own strong identity. It's going to be a hard one to follow.
4 Tocks
Derek Walker