Album review: Oh, Light by Careful
Eric Lindley, a.k.a. Careful, might not have Nick Drake’s chops, but after hearing his new album, you get the sense Drake might have made a record like Lindley’s if he were a 21st Century 20-something. Lindley builds his enthralling new album, Oh, Light, around simpler guitar riffs than Drake was known for. He does, however, possess a similar like-prayer-flags-in-the-wind voice with which he evokes distance, space and tender loneliness from threadbare arrangements adorned with subtle, inventive electronic embellishment.
“Lain Laid” is a good example of Lindley’s method. In a sleepy, half-whispered baritone, two dissonant voices, both his, croon in time with an acoustic guitar riff not very dissimilar from Pink Floyd’s “Goodbye, Blue Sky.” A minute into the song, the track’s leading theme is interrupted by distant, reverb guitar strumming and neon bright electronic tweets. Lindley’s arrangements are delicately spare and he imbues every line he sings with a sincere gravitas that could be endearing to one listener and overly ingratiating to another. - Published in slightly edited form on 19 Jan 2011 by JH Weekly
