Los Angeles's Bart Davenport seems to have wore many masks throughout his career. All these avenues have always been interesting, but not always hit the spot. With Episodes, he is back in Singer Songwriter territory and that is where he excels.
With Tapete behind him, he may finally get the worldwide recognition that he deserves. The album is a mix of Acoustic and Electric, both work. The Acoustic is never earnest or over played, the concentration is on his splendid voice and the lyrical strength.
I've already played Holograms on the IDHAS 10 Song Mix and that is a wonderful song. Davenport comes across as a sort of American Paul Heaton in the territory of the likes of Ward White. It may be the best thing that you hear all year.
The two songs embedded here are the only two on Bandcamp at the moment until the album release on 25 March. Alice Arrives demonstrates the Acoustic strength, with a chamber pop accompaniment. Elsewhere, Easy Listeners is exactly that, a real laid back shuffle and Billionaires is excellent melancholic fayre with a lovely string, almost Baroque arrangement.
The Plugged In stuff is what really hits home. Creatures In Love is fine Jangle Pop, Wireless Moon verges on Toytown Psych Pop and 99 Forever is an instrumental that could soundtrack The Prisoner. Strange Animal has a melodic Psych arrangement of the highest quality.
All Dressed In Rain runs Holograms as the stand out song. It is very C86, Glasgow 80s even. Episodes would stand alone for the quality of the song writing alone, but once you hear Bart Davenport's vocal, you will just swoon. Intelligent Pop of the highest order and not much beats that!
You can listen to and pre-order the Download here. The LP or CD are available everywhere, including the Tapete Records site here. You can find out more about Bart Davenport here. I will update the review after the album release to include three songs.
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