Genre: Folk
01 Sailor’s Song
02 Mogwash
03 Little Boy Baker
04 Artemy
05 Goodbye to Rainy Days
06 Hearts on Fire
07 Memory Bells
08 Little Miss Rose
09 Balloon Adventure
10 Morning Dream
11 Marigan Child
12 As the Bomb Falls Down
13 Train Disaster
14 Float on a Feather
15 Darkest Day
16 End of the Road
17 Instrumental
John White is a musician currently playing in The Zoo Polluters, Sunsets on Acid, and Mėstar. He has toured Europe with noise-pop group Cloudboy, created live soundtracks to archival New Zealand footage, and traveled to South Korea with fellow New Zealanders Amalgam to take part in a performance in a Buddhist monastery. This release on Last Visible Dog Records brings together two previous John White solo albums, 2000’s Balloon Adventure and Mogwash from 2003. Balloon Adventure was said to be a reaction to an intense period of recording with Mėstar, while Mogwash was recorded with fellow members of Cloudboy in Berlin.
This release is 17 tracks of beautiful, dreamy folk. From the opening bars of Sailor’s Song the listener gets carried away on waves of gentle melody. Songs such as Little Boy Baker are informed by children’s songs and convey both the naiveté and strangeness of those tunes. There’s a darkness here too, particularly in the Balloon Adventure material. Most notably on my favourite track As The Bomb Falls Down. A slightly lazy comparison could be made with Syd Barrett’s work. The precision of the song-writing, the almost pop sensibilities actually make me think of Robert Smith, not so much in sound but just with his way of creating perfect nuggets of dream-pop folk. The whole experience of this CD is one of a drifting melancholy that is somehow relaxing.
On the strength of this CD I have no idea why John White isn’t huge yet. His songs are at once finely crafted examples of credible song-writing, while also being accessible enough to have the potential to become really popular. For those who enjoy the more gentle forms of dream-pop folk I couldn’t recommend this album enough. John White is one to watch.
