Hip Brown is Slow Mosias, Hip sings and plays all the instruments on 'The Cardinal Map', and it's his first album release. Hip cites his major influence as Danny Kirwan of Fleetwood Mac fame, which would indicate that this album might be chock full of crystal clear and melodic guitar playing. 'Embark' confirms this and is a beautifully delicate instrumental piece that is over too quickly. 'Seasonchange' introduces Hip's breathy 'talk singing' vocal which adds a haunting aspect to the song. 'Spirit of the West' is an ambitious song cycle piece that stretches out over to nearly nine minutes and contains many themes, time signature changes and some very atmospheric and wonderfully melodic musical passages. Instrumental pieces 'The Journey' and 'Land' are both very atmospheric and allow Hip's very tasteful guitar playing full reign. The album closes with 'Memorial Day', a piano and slide guitar led piece which weaves it way through time changes and a number of false endings before signing off. The spartan instrumentation and drum patterns that are utilized throughout create the hauntingly delicate atmosphere that pervades throughout the whole album and the apparent low fi nature of the recordings only add to the general vibe. What the actual musical style is on The Cardinal Map is open to debate. It's maybe Americana, with touches of country, hints of psychedelia here and there, but in the end it's the music of Slow Mosias, it's their own individual corner of the musical pantheon and it's well worth a visit.
Reviewed by Kevin Wallbank
08/08/09
1. Embark 2. Seasonchange 3. The Cardinal Map 4. Riverside Dreaming 5. Spirit Of The West 6. The Journey 7. Land 8. North, South, East, West 9. Fliptop Exit 10. Memorial Day
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