Justin Bernasconi

Winter Pick Fuse Group

There’s something appealing when music is stripped back to its barest essentials, and particularly when it’s as well executed as this. British-born Justin is a talented singer, songwriter and acoustic guitarist who now resides in Australia. Winter Pick shows an honest and personal approach to his songs, all expertly recorded and produced by Jeff Lang in Melbourne. The album offers a good mixture of instrumentals and vocals and occasionally calls on additional players. We particularly like Bernie’s Breakdown which involves Ben Franz on double bass, Jeff Lang on harmonium, and excellent Dobro and mandolin work from Pete Fidler. Good variety of styles here, too: there’s great slide work from Justin on Gatekeeper while the country-flavoured Ram’s Eye is uptempo and brings a smile to the face. The songs are great, but it’s the instrumentals that allow Justin to shine; his style oozes atmosphere; just check out Sirmione, which shows just what a tasty player he is. The sleeve notes include explanations behind some of the songs, helping you to focus on the ‘message’ within the lyrics. All in all, a really lovely album.