Album Review: Marques Toliver - Land of CanAan
- Written by Tom Fake
It seems an age since I first saw singer/violinist Marques Toliver appear on Later… With Jools Holland performing his 2010 track ‘White Sails’. Since then he has released an EP, Butterflies Are Not Free, and The Land of CanAan is his first full–length instalment.
There’s no doubt about it, the man’s got soul. According to Toliver this first album features “the music of now”, and the album opener ‘CanAan’ is a fantastic demonstration of Toliver’s unique soulful R&B/pop mash-up style that has, in the past few years, attracted attention from a host of famous names. After being discovered busking in Brooklyn by Kyp Malone of TV On The Radio, he moved to the UK where he was soon noticed by artists such as Adele, who dubbed Toliver her “new favourite artist”, Damon Albarn, and Paul McCartney.
Highlights of the album include ‘If Only’, which starts slow before a fantastic and catchy chorus that typifies his R&B roots. ‘Try Again’, like many tracks on the album, really shows off Toliver’s arranging and songwriting skills; its very subtle, and very smart with impressive vocal harmonies and staccato violins. ‘Weather Man’, is a track that builds to include a great horn section complementing an acoustic guitar and really shows off Toliver’s vocal talent nicely. ‘Repetition’, too, is great because it’s simply a bit different, a song of beautiful strings and piano that showcases Toliver’s arranging and multi-instrumental abilities.
The album's lead single, ‘Control’, incorporates love-orientated pop lyrics and a striking mix of strings and piano, vocal harmonies. Toliver again demonstrates his intelligent songwriting ability by effortlessly incorporating lyrics from ‘Ain't No Mountain High Enough’ (“Ain't no river wide, no valley low enough, To keep me from getting to you baby”) into his distinctive style before fading the song out to an emotive and atmospheric reprise of opening track ‘CanAan’ and closing out with rather pleasing final track ‘Find Your Way Back Home’.
You can’t talk about this album without mentioning the prominence of Toliver’s violin arrangements. As in earlier material, it is obvious that Toliver’s vocal timbre and instrumentation really form the backbone of his unique style. This style manages to marry a mixed bag of influences with a sort of easy listening style that is just so… So listenable, frankly.
There’s no doubt that this is a very good opening album from Marques Toliver. His unique style really jumps out at you, from the first soothing note you hear him sing, and the first bow of his violin. You've got to hope that Toliver can build on the solid foundation he seems to have built for himself because his songwriting and style of singing, along with this collection of songs, are something that really needs to be noticed.
The Land of CanAan is out on May 13 and available from amazon and iTunes.