Earlier this year, by the banks of the Avon River, English songwriter Jody Prewett entered a studio and recorded the songs he had been working on for a year and a half between Bristol and Bath. There wasn't much nitpicking—no multiple takes or elaborate double-tracking. Prewett channelled the rough-and-tumble immediacy of the earlier folk music that inspired him and recorded his songs live. Adding a smattering of piano and ukulele overdubs, as well as the vocal and cello stylings of collaborator Emily Maguire, Prewett allowed his emotionally-driven tales to speak for themselves. The result is River Songs, an enticingly stripped-back collection of ruminative folk numbers that showcase Prewett's inimitable fingerpicking style and fantasy-tinged worldview.
Most of the songs on the album are romantic but not in a mushy or overly sentimental way. The sense of romance here brings to mind a minstrel traversing the fields of Albion, encountering horses, moonshine, and waterfalls as he gripes about social injustices ("On The Road To Evergreen"), the fleeting beauty of nature, and the loss of youth.
Prewett is no newcomer. He carved a name for himself in the British underground scene last decade with the groups Trophy Wife and Jonquil. After high-profile festival appearances and a Parisian opening slot for Ed Sheeran later, Prewett opted for a career in music education. However, he never let his hands stray too far from the fretboard, maturing his work from flashy to classy. River Songs is Prewett's second album released under his real name, following Trails, an instrumental collection of sedative guitar tunes released last year.
Recorded on a vintage John Wood desk and a tape machine by Scot McKenzie at New Cut Studios, Bristol and The Vineyards, Bath, River Songs has a rich acoustic sound. Prewett's playing has shades of his influences, John Martyn and Linda Perhacs, in the way lullaby-esque arpeggios create a hypnotic spell. However, there are punkier overtones in the force of Prewett's plucks. He plays his songs like he's dying to get them out. Perhaps that's because they centre on the transience of life, often metaphorized across the album in lyrical depictions of water: "My sister and me, went to the old house down by the sea, we found the key, in the pit of an empty well" in the deliciously lachrymose "Old House," "We let the water pull us along, the days all became one" in the admirably hopeful "To The Waterfall," or "We swam to the other side, and sold our souls to the golden tides" in "Golden Tides," a wonderful amalgam of Prewett's imagistic writing and sultry riff-mongering.
While Prewett is an entertaining host, Maguire's contributions add an element of communication and are a particular highlight, especially on "Afternoon Love," where her cello mourns in the background, steadying a woozier Prewett. The piano balladry of "River Song" sets a pensive coda, though Prewett's voice sounds somewhat out of sorts, perhaps not as comfortable fitting into piano notes as he is with his guitar.
Had River Songs been produced exclusively with overdubs, autotune, and sophisticated mixing techniques, it likely would have made for a smoother and deeper listen. However, the contradiction of art is that this approach would have deprived the album of its authentic and earthy feeling, something ostensibly important for an artist who is so open to experiences of nature and love.
★★★½