{"id":22551,"date":"2022-02-20T05:30:56","date_gmt":"2022-02-20T10:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22551"},"modified":"2022-02-22T17:03:49","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T22:03:49","slug":"album-review-bart-davenport-episodes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/20\/album-review-bart-davenport-episodes\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Bart Davenport &#8212; Episodes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-22552\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/bart_davenport_episodes.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/bart_davenport_episodes.jpg 700w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/bart_davenport_episodes-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/bart_davenport_episodes-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>At the nexus in which DIY indie rock, baroque pop and shimmering, timeless music meet, you\u2019ll find Bart Davenport. With a winsome voice reminiscent of prime-era Ray Davies at his most introspective, Davenport crafts deeply catchy tunes that burrow their way into the listener\u2019s skull. While the press kit for <em>Episodes<\/em> bandies around the \u201clo fi\u201d label, I hear instead finely-wrought, carefully constructed arrangements. Sure, they\u2019re spare in their way, but that\u2019s because that approach is what the songs deserve. Keeping things uncluttered helps place the focus on the vocals, lyrics and snaky melodic lines.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHolograms\u201d is a case in point. The song has a winning melody and accessible, relatable lyrics. But it also features catchy melodic bits from the guitar, an alluring bass part and subtle touches by way of keyboard and such. Those elements all come together in superb fashion. If there\u2019s an aesthetic touchstone for this album, it might be David Bowie\u2019s <i>The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars<\/i>. \u201cHolograms\u201d in particular has a feel that connects it to that classic, yet nobody would accuse Davenport of (a) sounding like Bowie or (b) nicking ideas from him.<\/p>\n<p>The introspection continues on cuts like the hypnotic \u201cAlice Arrives,\u201d with hints of Nick Drake. Spend time with <i>Episodes<\/i> and you won\u2019t be disappointed. \u201cEasy Listeners\u201d combines a bit of bossa nova with a feel not miles from America\u2019s \u201cTin Man.\u201d \u201cNaked Man\u201d and the waltzing \u201cBillionaires\u201d paint vivd and alluring word pictures. \u201cAll Dressed in Rain\u201d feels organic even as it uses a drum machine; it\u2019s among the finest songs on a perfect album. The passionate \u201cStrange Animal\u201d serves up some lovely Rickenbacker-style jangle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWireless Moon\u201d recalls gentle Merseybeat. The heavenly instrumental \u201c99 Forever\u201d rocks out, building around some chiming electric guitar and lovely nostalgic combo organ; stick around for the jazzy guitar interlude. \u201cCreatures in Love\u201d is a slice of timeless Britpop. And the record wraps up with the contemplative \u201cStill Life.\u201d With <i>Episodes<\/i>, Bart Davenport has crafted one of the year\u2019s gems. Look for a mention of this record when I do the inevitable best-of-\u201922 bit in December(ish).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the nexus in which DIY indie rock, baroque pop and shimmering, timeless music meet, you\u2019ll find Bart Davenport. With a winsome voice reminiscent of prime-era Ray Davies at his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22552,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,49,51,65],"tags":[4774],"class_list":["post-22551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indie","category-new-release","category-pop","category-review","tag-bart-davenport","cat-39-id","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22551"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22597,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22551\/revisions\/22597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}