Grafter Jack makes tracks for Wembley
JACK SAVORETTI: Singing To Strangers (BMG) Verdict: Rising star pulls out the stops
DAVID GRAY: Gold In A Brass Age (IHT) Verdict: Glittering comeback
At the end of May , Jack Savoretti headlines Wembley Arena for the first time — a significant milestone for an artist whose rise has come as a reward for songwriting talent and hard graft.
He has paid his dues by relentlessly touring and releasing a string of wellreceived, if unspectacular, records, dating back to his 2007 debut, Between the Minds, made when he was 23.
Singing to Strangers, his sixth LP, is his most distinctive yet.
Having explored expansive, guitar - powered rock on 2016’s Sleep No More, he has added lush, shimmering strings — and two stellar guests — to the mix. the slowburning star is pulling out all the stops.
Savoretti, now 35, was born in London to an Italian father and English mother and he made Singing t o Strangers in sound - track composer Ennio Morricone’s studio in Rome. the European setting has had an effect, with stylistic nods to moody Italian film music and French crooner Charles Aznavour.
It ticks other boxes, too. With George Ezra’s producer Cam Blackwood on board, there’s a hook- heavy edge to recent single Candlelight, with Jack’s rasping vocals reminiscent of Robbie Williams. Love Is On the Line is an exercise in retro-leaning Sixties pop.
the big-ticket collaborations are noteworthy.
A version of the Kylie Minogue duet Music’s too Sad Without You featured on her countryflavoured Golden album last year, and Jack and Kylie revisit it here with a live take from the Venice Jazz Festival.
the second tie-in is a co-write with Bob Dylan that came about when Savoretti was given permission to put his own music to some unused Dylan lyrics. t ouchy Situation isn’t Bob at his best, but the Savoretti-Dylan writing credit is mightily impressive.
Elsewhere, he’s in confessional mode. We know this because he spells it out on the contrite piano ballad things I thought I’d Never Do: ‘ this is my confession, my deep and dark - est secret,’ he sings on a song that is rather too stagey.
HIS abrasive voice is a calling card, but he can be over -the-top. the melodramatic Dying For Your Love is another case in point.
He’s more convincing when he tones down the vocal histrionics. Going Home is a rocking, pianodriven number that builds to a Hey Jude -like finale. the title track is an acoustic interlude that echoes the simpler style of his early albums. ‘I spend my life singing to strangers,’ he declares. It’s a testament to his staying power that there’ll be thousands of them at Wembley in May.
DAVID GRA Y was dubbed ‘the darling of the Chardonnay-and-chinos set’ when his album White Ladder became a fashionable dinner-party soundtrack.
But he’s a restless soul who pushes forward if his music threatens to get stale.
Gold In A Brass Age is his first album in five years, and it finds him revitalised.
Moving away from traditional verses and choruses, it’s a collaboration with film composer Ben de Vries relying on percussive loops and subtle electronics.
With its title lifted from Raymond Carver’s short story Blackbird Pie, it ’s an intimate affair, too. Gray, 50, reflects on the passage of time on the Sapling, while W atching the Waves and Hurricane Season reveal a growing fascination with the natural world.
Despite being written while he was on an American tour with Alison Krauss, it ’s also determinedly British. Gray lives in London with his wife and two teenage daughters, and the album’s sleeve incorporates the city’s skyline.
With twinkling electronics and a touch of autotune to the fore, he has again moved on without detracting from his artistry.
JACK SAVORETTI starts a UK tour at O2 Academy Glasgow on May 23 and plays The SSE Arena Wembley on May 31 (jacksavoretti.com). David Gray’s tour starts tonight at St David’s Hall, Cardiff (gigsandtours.com).