MATTHEW RoBB

Spirit In The Form 7/10

Robb, a British songwriter based in Cologne, where he lives with his family in a home made of reclaimed material, likes to ramble. Before settling in Germany, he lived in the Andes and the Rockies. Musically, he occupies the borderland between the talking blues of townes Van Zandt and the folk excursions of early Dylan. Robb calls it “songpoetry”, and while the title track and the devilish “slave song” underscore Robb’s familiarity with the texas-narrative tradition, the album’s melancholy closer, “Blood On the Pillow”, is a beautifully weighted meditation on death which transcends its generic architecture.