Album Review : Dan Arborise - Of Tide And Trail
- Written by Stephanie Stevens-Wade
When his debut album Around In Circles was released in 2006, critics called Dan Arborise a folk singer for the 21st century. His latest instalment, Of Tide And Trail, shows his desire to continue to make beautiful music with confidence, and take it much further. The singer-songwriter has been dubbed the Nick Drake of the 21st century as his work weaves a similar enchantment to Five Leaves Left as it’s a record inspired by John Martyn's folk-jazz, and the languor of Nick Drake's delicate vocals.
The refreshing adventurous textures of Of Tide and Trail slowly took shape from being influenced by his surroundings, the meditative sea, skies and countryside around him. Intricate guitar playing in ‘You’ll All Get What’s Coming to You’ is harmonious with hypnotic drones. However it is highly comparable with John Butler Trio, but there isn’t one song on this album that I cant compare to a fellow folk/acoustic artistic. Throughout this album I can hear the repetitive lyrics of Dallas Green (City and Colour), the intricate guitar playing talent of Newton Faulkner, another modern day, influential, young folk artist climbing the ranks of recognition, and the deep mysterious voices of Jose Gonzales, Nick Drake and John Martyn.
Of Tide and Trail is less about nature and more about nurture. ‘Cries’ remarkable nine-minute track is about a father’s experience of a first-born. “Oh how those long live cries that call you out of your slumber”. It captures the emotional purity and intensity of the changes, but again very similar to John Butler’s ‘Peaches and Cream’.
Other songs on Of Tide and Trail travel from driving folk-rock to quiet reflective pieces. ‘Days Even Years’ addresses the passage of time and the inevitability of death, with an incredible tenderness. ‘My Dear’ puts you in dream like state, whereas the spry, jaunty opener, ‘Another Side Of The Sky’, and ‘I Live’, both bristle with infectious energy. From the questioning of life in the contemplative lyrics of ‘She Told Me How To Love Her’, to an ode to a growing daughter ‘My Child’, a huge heart beats boldly.
Take the epic achievement of ‘Under Your Spell’, 7 minutes and 16 seconds of building guitars, vocals that evoke memories of Jeff Buckley, and washes of electronics that slowly submerge the listener. Then there is the album's incredible closer, ‘Feet in the Sea, Head In The Stars’. It ends as beautifully as it began, with Arborise telling us "The tide it pulls forever on, back to where we all belong".