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Album Reviews
Album Review: Iain Archer – To The Pine Roots (Black Records)
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 23 March 2009
‘To The Pine Roots’ is the most recent addition to Northern Irish export Iain Archer’s already sizeable back catalogue. It was born in the tranquillity of a wee cottage beneath the Black Forest and that peacefulness has become the very essence of this album. A man of many talents, his songwriting capabilities leap to the fore every time. In addition to his solo career, he has played an integral part in outfits including the wonderful primarily Scottish and Irish supergroup The Reindeer Section. He has long been involved with fellow Northern Irish and Scottish ambassadors, Snow Patrol, briefly having been a member as a guitarist and has since assisted Lightbody on compositional duties. As with 2005`s widely acclaimed ‘Flood The Tanks’ Archer’s quality as a songwriter is evident on this album. His unique ability to translate the fragility of emotion into melody is audible throughout. He slips up slightly with his vocals here and there but this lack of perfection adds nuances to the tenderness of the tracks. His comments on matters of the heart remain as emotive as ever and his melodies rarely deviate which results in few stand out moments and much of the same. No matter, ‘To The Pine Roots’ is another soft offering by Archer, full of gentle peaks and deep emotional troughs that his dedicated band of followers will lap up with gusto, no questions asked. MB
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