Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Life is too hectic, too full, often packed with the meaningless and trivial, moments that bog you down as you search through the thicket, past the mire that surrounds the willows and the ash, the knotted stumps and the hollows that infest and give the forest of life its charm, its grandeur and its dense thickness in which noting, light, air or a soul can break free from.

We get lost in the forest, we find solace in the nature of the beast and finally we come to that moment when a patch of ground we can call our own appears, strong enough for a foundation, pleasant enough to bask in the light and relish the shade when either forces are called upon; it is in that moment that finally see the Wood For The Trees as something special.

Fran Wyburn’s debut album is the feeling of contentment when the forest is allowed to settle, to grow at its pace and thrive, not be under constant pressure, to feel the axe and saw, to see the clearing as a place of beauty which harnesses the energy of the land and not as a place in which darkness falls.

Wood For The Trees sees Ms. Wyburn collaborate with specialist folk producer Dan Webster and it is an arrangement that bears fruit with generosity, with growth and determination, a sense of purpose that has continued and thrived from her two E.P. Little Moments and Postcards, the green fingers of love. It is the arrangement and feeling of the close knit bond between artist, producer and song that makes this particular wood bloom steadily, provocatively and with the musical intent of passion fruit.

Track such as Snowdrops and Me, Pass On By, Mr. Blackbird, Breathe and Me and Me harness the energy, they become talking points, the whisper through the trees and one that catches the babbling brook that runs wildly and true with vigour and a strong embrace.

The wood, a one-time memory we all used to associate with the length and breadth of the country, the forest of musical industry in which we seek out a glade and hollow in which to bury ourselves in, this is the Wood For The Trees, the safety in collective, the protection against the lightning strikes of indifference; the wood is both saviour and friend and one in which the inspiration of Fran Wyburn’s music resonates with coolness and alluring depth.

Ian D. Hall