Paul
Duncan: Above the Trees (Hometapes)
It’s difficult to write music about the outdoors without sounding
like a raving hippie or—well—John Denver. Literature doesn’t
have the same problem, as plenty of respected authors obsess about the
outdoors without losing critical favor. Photographers make careers capturing
Mother Nature’s candids.
The cover of Paul Duncan’s
Above the Trees looks like a nature photography book, down to
the heavy gloss, and Duncan treats nature with the same reverence a high-quality
photographer might. Duncan writes lyrics like, “Starting fires as
we watch the winter sky/With friends by the creek.”
Like the forest at night, noise comes from everywhere, as Duncan surrounds his Nick Drake-esque vocals with a constant barrage of instrumentation from pedal steel to violin to horns. Sometimes it can be a bit much, but it’s refreshing for music to be taken for a ride in the great outdoors every now and then.
By Jim Scott
7/2007