Nick Harper
The Last Guitar (Sangraal)
I have a bit of a problem with Nick Harper’s albums: I would drag myself over broken glass to see the man live; but his forays into the studio have left me, if not ‘cold’ then certainly looking for something with longer sleeves to put on. And while this is a rather enjoyable record, I just can’t help feeling that it fails to capture something of the warmth and charm of the artist at work.
For those unfamiliar (shame on you), when Harper performs live it’s him and his guitar. In the studio he makes full use of all the tools on hand. I don’t want to sound like I’m advocating an Albini-style approach to this (although…), there are some real great uses of that studio time. Passing Chord manages to out-string anything by Elbow and has a touching majesty at its heart that wipes the floor with any of their empty stadium pomp. There’s something brilliantly exhilarating about the weirdy glam/space-rock keyboarding on the title track. And, Silly Daddy – featuring his daughter, Lily, on vocals – manages to capture both the heartbreak of being apart from ones family and the happiness of knowing they’re there. And, it’s a fantastic tune.
Throw in some techno-tango, a Quo-ramalama love song to a mountain (yay ROCK!) and you’ve got (as I said) a very enjoyable record. Just not the one we want from him. And, we know he’s got it in there.
Tony Kiernan
