Richard Thompson Ship To Shore
New West Records (available 31 May)
Taut, barbed folk-rock that doesn’t hide the scars
Imagine a row of guitars from a guitar-maker you admire. You know you’ll probably like all the instruments but maybe one or two will have that little extra something. It could be said that Richard Thompson’s albums are a bit like that, too. Thompson maintains a taut standard for all his records, which are never less than serious pieces of musical craftsmanship, the lyrics always shrewd and incisive – not without compassion of a kind but avoiding sentimentality at all times. The result is typically great but, as mentioned, some albums from Thompson rise just a touch above the others, like the topmast of a ship on the horizon.
Opener Freeze captures people teetering on the brink of misfortune, the narrative propelled by a driving, piratical rhythm and an almost shanty-like descending melody, tumbling down like the fortunes of the song’s hardluck characters. Thompson’s playing is deft, effortlessly peeling off lines of double-stops from his (assumed) Strat, that seem imbued with the spirit of British folk for all their edgy electricity.
Thompson has an expertise for painting portraits of jilted men and, true to form, ShipToShore offers us one of his best examples since the brilliant UninhabitedMan, with What’sLeftToLose, which shows off his brilliant knack for chord changes that seem unexpected yet perfectly connected.
Overall, the album feels more consistent and coherent than his last LP 13 Rivers, its narrative and melodic thread as strong as a hawser. Masterly.
Standout track: TurnstileCasanova
For fans of: Fairport Convention, The Magpie Arc, Elvis Costello