Friday, 30 January 2015

Sam Piper - Lucid Dreaming, EP review

Acoustic Narrative

In reviewing Southwest/Exeter band Witterquick recently I referenced some of the members’ previous incarnation [not all from this], the band Electric Skies. Another former member Sam Piper is also carrying on to make an impact musically, and whilst he continues to rock in a band [The Delta Sound, and The Mocking Birds: I can’t keep up with the breadth, but I also reviewed him live here], it is his acoustic EP Lucid Dreaming – available to hear on soundcloud – I will review.

There are four unadorned, acoustic tracks and they play a delicate linear narrative. What I mean is the pitch is controlled by a thoughtful, perhaps introspective range rather than seeking to push and shove. Or I could just reiterate it is acoustic. First track Give Me a Reason is a slow finger-plucked song riding its open vista on a hushed but clear lyrical warning about being ‘justified’, the soft supporting female vocal and background synth a perfect tandem. Second My Saint has a similar refrained lyrical assertion ‘show them you’re a fighter’, and a strummed guitar raises the rhythm slightly, but sustains that calm control. Third Bright Lights, Big City, reviewed in the live gig, is a bluesy ballad with more subtle guitar plucking. Closer Someday furthers the subdued but ultimately affecting tone because that pitch has been so consistently fine in its construction and performance. Here, the solo chord sequence a third of the way in is beautifully simple, and the rising close with the attending female vocal support draws the four songs to a coherent whole. A delicate whole.


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