Face The Music

After listening to his new album, Tearing Sky, one imagines Piers Faccini as a man who moves in slow, deliberate motion. But this is not shoe-gazing music. The songs flow ever outward, picking up in tempo and energy for dramatic effect as needed, but maintaining a steadiness of hand throughout.

The arrangements have an acoustic folk/world feel, fleshed out with a small ensemble of talented and versatile musicians. However, the focus is always on Faccini's singing and mood, often recalling the golden stillness that Donovan captured so well in the sixties. Percussion and an assortment of exotic instruments wrap the basic guitar/drums/bass parts, creating cozy support for the sublime lyrics and Faccini's comforting voice. Most important though, Faccini writes wonderfully potent songs, finally delivering on the modern folk promise only hinted at by others such as Devendra Banhart.

But for audiophiles, the icing on the cake will be the intimate, velvety sound. Though originally recorded to hard disc, the musicians are convincingly placed around your room, heads down, generating the groove each song requires. The kind of recording that makes you want to dig in closer, louder. Several tracks from Tearing Sky will be on my CES demo disc this year.