Tag: review

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fensepost review

I just got home from the streets of London to discover a truly lovely review from a US blog called fensepost which I have printed in full below as it made my day…

‘Here is an artist that seems to revel in acoustic sweetness. London’s Robin Grey invites you into his coffee shop friendly world on his latest release. “I Love Leonard Cohen” is a five-track EP so splendid Mr. Cohen himself should be more than honored to have such a talented fan. Anyone looking for a fun-filled depressive state, look no further.

Grey reminisces of greater times on the title track “I Love Leonard Cohen”. This is a masterful folk bit paying a strange tribute to anyone with a regretful memory, as well as simple odes to Meat Loaf, Jeff Buckley, R.E.M., and, more so than others, outplayed Weezer CDs. The blindingly smooth “Shakes and Shudders” is a beautiful backdrop while reading Kerouac’s tale of strength defying times at Desolation Peak – calm, beautiful, and a bit resentful of the pretentious normalcy.

Robin Grey will not need to do too much to prove himself an incendiary artist in the world of folk music. His calmly exquisite mannerisms seem to bring you back to a simpler time and place, whenever you want it to be. There is literature in his words. And “I Love Leonard Cohen” is a beautiful story, desperate to be told.’

taken from http://www.fensepost.com/main/?p=1439

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e.p. review from the states

A lady who goes by the name of ‘Tart’ has written a nice review of my e.p. on the blog:

I Correct Myself, I Mean All The Time

“Well, my weekend was brightened by an email from a wonderful musician who tracked me down from a comment over on Matthew’s ‘Song By Toad’ blog. Robin inquired as to my whereabouts to send a cd and being as I am already swooning over his chocolatey smooth voice and gorgeous folksy tunes, I guess I’ll begrudgingly share him with you.

His cover of Kirsty MacColl’s ‘There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis’ is wonderful. When I first heard Kirsty’s song, sung by her, I wasn’t a great fan of it. The twangy, country style threw me and I didn’t listen for the words and catch the meaning. The title just seemed funny and as a new listener to her work, I thought, “oh those silly Brits!”. Of course when you listen to the words you realize it’s a sad, might-I-lose-love? song. And it sometimes takes a good cover to get you to really hear a song, ya know? Now I hear our lovely Kirsty sing it and I get it. So thanks Robin, and I adore your version too.”

from http://www.euphonioushabitus.net/blog/

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song by toad e.p. review

Matthew, aka Mr Song By Toad, has written some lovely things about my recent e.p. on his blog. I know some of you already read it but if you haven’t yet, have a look, it’s a gem.

“Robin is, I suspect, not the only one (who loves Leonard Cohen – ed).

I really liked his recent album Only the Missile and this appears to a rather lovely little inbetweeny EP. There’s a gorgeous atmosphere to Robin’s stuff that I can’t quite put my finger on. He has a deep, reassuring voice and a calming, unhurried delivery which seems to bring a familiar ease to his sound.

Add a splash of female backing vocals and what was simply really nice becomes bloody gorgeous. The title track is a lovely reminiscence on the transience of music taste, and the pleasant self-indulgence of nostalgia. The cover of the superb Kirsty MacColl song There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis is as good as the original, in an odd way. And then there’s Shakes & Shudders. Christ this is lovely. If I’ve heard a more intimate, weary song in ages I couldn’t name it: just fucking gorgeous.”

http://songbytoad.com/2008/11/19/robin-grey-i-love-leonard/

You can download it here and buy it here

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another form of relief review

A second review which I only found out about today!

ANOTHER FORM OF RELIEF

The art of the protest singer seems to have been lost in recent years. Which is unfortunate as there hasn’t been in a time when they have been more needed. The state of this world, and this country in particularly, is practically screaming out for someone to put complaints into words. Which is something of an odd way to open when I’m not sure I’d even consider Robin Grey to be a protest singer.

He does take some swipes at the government of the day (”On the radio politicians dutifully opine which liberties they are taking away”), but most of The Finchley Waltz centres on the personal. It’s a melancoly tale of finding love (at first sight, no less) and then realising it’s not quite what the movies cracked it up to be. So still a protest song to a degree, just not in the political sense.

But then what does all this matter with a voice like this? Grey is one of those wonderful talents that could recite the phone directory on record and you’d still be enthralled. His voice is restrained, yet you can still feel the emotion behind every word. This allows each song to sound light and breezy enough to pull you in at the start, before the emotional punch comes in out of nowhere. Leaving us with the kind of cheerful misery that’s perfect for this time of year.

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song by toad review

Somehow I only found out about this review yesterday…might explain why things have been a bit more lively on my myspace though…you can see the original review and browse around the rest of Song by Toad‘s excellent site by clicking on the picture below.

This is going to be a slightly equivocal review, I think. Robin is a new artist, and I always think twice if I’m going to be less than entirely generous about people you may never have heard of before.

What do I mean? Well I’m not entirely convinced by all of this album. There are a couple of tracks, most notably Somewhere, which are pretty unremarkable – I’m thinking Hugh Grant starring in another of those dismal Working Title romcoms of his, basically. Going to his MySpace page, there are a couple more like that, which made me a little nervous, I had to admit.

Associating these lapses with the rest of this album is easy, but really completely wrong. It’s actually a fabulous album for the most part, really it is: warm, melancholy, gentle, witty and just playful enough that the sparse instrumentation and generally slow pace never flirt with tedium. It has real life, this record, albeit a low-key, non-intrusive kind of life.

He plucks and rumbles along, in a most English manner, tells his stories in a plain and unpretentious way that is really personal and really engaging. By the end of the record you realise you’ve listened to the sort of music that feels like a relaxed night in with a good friend at the end of a tiring week. And you’re a bit drunk, but not too sozzled. And you feel a little sleepy, but in a nice, warm way. Things are fine, actually, aren’t they?

Bluesy and folky, with enough embellishment to add texture, but which never detracts from the gentle strum of the guitar and raspy, but not growling quality of his voice. It is minimal, but it’s not sparse, and it may be a bit DIY, but it’s not amateurish, and it may not grab you instantly, but it’s a really bloody good album.