Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The healthy resonance of a guitar is sometimes the only sound you need to hear to understand in how every instant the world can be both beautiful and devastatingly sad at the same time. For Robert Cray that singular echo coming through the airwaves is one that haunts, chills and pleases from opening track till the time when The C.D. has been placed regretfully back onto the rack. His latest album In My Soul is no different.
Following on from his absolute blockbuster of 2012, Nothin’ But Love, comes this sweet, almost timeless feel of an album that craves the listeners heart and musical essence in ways that in other guitarists would seem to cause the listener to stop and listen for a while and nod sagely but in the hands of a master, give the meaning of heartbreak such significant definition.
Whilst the album isn’t as perhaps upfront or zealous as Nothin But Love, it none the less plays with the creative enthusiasm of a man who constantly searches for ways to inspire and be inspired. Tracks such as the 60s defined charming but lyrically deadly Fine Yesterday, the co-written with Jeff Paris I Guess I’ll Never Know, the quivering beat that straddles Hip Tight Onions, the unanswerable questions that find themselves being presented in What Would You Say and the spiralling Your Good Thing’s About To Come To An End all make it a trip worth taking; after all, any trip with Robert Cray is worth its weight in guitar gold.
If all music was always as trustworthy as what Robert Cray presents then perhaps the way we hold musicians up as guiding lights would be elevated across all sections of society and we would see that everybody has a voice that needs to be heard. For now Robert Cray is, as always a presence in which to hold aloft.
Robert Cray takes his new album on tour during May 2014 and will be performing at the Manchester Bridgewater Hall on Friday May 16th.
Ian D. Hall