God Bless the Pretty Things
Artist: Boo Hewerdine
Label: Navigator Records
Time: 11Tracks / 39 mins

One-time front-man for The Bible, Hewerdine last graced my player when he made a magnificent job of producing Heidi Talbot’s delicate In Love and Light, 
 
] which used no unnecessary instruments, and brought out the intrinsic heart of each song.

Talbot’s highly complementary harmonies enhance this collection whenever they appear and Hewerdine has taken a similar approach to the sound here. The disc takes its title from a song he has not yet written, which is about how the chance to create beauty is the ultimate sign of freedom. With this thought in his mind while writing the album, he has made it a suite of beguiling songs.

This is sometimes described as Hewerdine’s first band project in ten years, but ‘band’ is putting it too strongly. Four tracks have neither bass nor drums and there is one first take with just two guitars. This is more a case of the respected singer-songwriter roping in his friends, but only where necessary, like the ubiquitous John McCusker, and others from bands like Del Amitri, Trash Can Sinatras, Capercaillie/Deacon Blue and the large part of Eddi Reader’s backing band. Gustaf Ljunngren alone plays enough instruments here to fill a music shop, contributing lap steel, banjo, organ, strings, woodwind, horns and vibes, among others.

What is beguiling to some may be lacklustre to others. Either way, there is a strong sense of melancholy here. I’m not sure that Hewerdine intended it that way, but most songs cover either fragile relationships or missing a loved one. “Geography,” is a piece about being in Australia and missing his wife (“All my stars are upside-down; it’s just a little too much geography”). “Muddy Water” hints at romantic indiscretion (I hope that the line, “Who said anything about love? / We’re all just animals after all” is ironic); and “New Year’s Eve” suggests that he won’t again be fooled by the promise of a new start. On “Sleeping Lions,” a piece about missing his kids, he notes that “This time I’m gonna stay,” implying that he might not, or that he hasn’t always.

The melancholy is especially present in one contender for the best track, “Rags,” where he ponders what he would do if he saw himself destitute (“I’m not the only one who ever lost their way ... Went to bed sober and woke up drunk, in rags”). Despite the disc being better for its sparse accompaniment, two of the strongest tracks have a fuller sound. This one has a definite jazz inflection, with warm, sultry horns, while “In Paris after the War” takes on a suitably Parisian vibe. It could be based on the iconic photograph of an American soldier grabbing a girl on a railway station at the news that peace has been declared, but certainly paints a back-story to a photograph.

At times (It’s a Beautiful Night) there are forced schoolboy rhymes, and the disc does not always show off his lyrical abilities to the full, but these are the exception.

Hewerdine has said that he wanted to get an Iron and Wine feel on “Soul Mate,” where the vibes give a Vision On theme tune feel, but I found his quieter tracks were more likely to remind me of Nick Drake, especially on “Rags.”

Whenever I played this, I have found some song touring my head the next morning. It can be different songs on different days, just showing how many memorable pieces there are on this disc. God Bless the Pretty Things will further enhance his good reputation as an acoustic song-meister.

Derek Walker