Nick Drake
Way To Blue
(Hannibal / Island)
Recently, I was on a trip to a music store when I heard something inside that was so simple, yet so striking that I had to enquire and see what it was. The album that was playing was the one that I am reviewing, and I must say that even after repeated listens, it hasn't lost any of it's beauty. Little known to me (and a lot of other people), Drake wrote 4 albums worth of material about 25 years ago before accidentally overdosing on anti-depressants. Most of the time, his music gets classified as folk, but it's quite a bit more than that.
The great thing about his music is that is sounds so timeless. Most of the arrangements are focused around a guitar, but most of them have some other instrumentation like a piano or some simple strings. Drake sings in a breathy, yet rich way that's very engaging. Current bands like Belle and Sebastian seem to have drawn a lot of influence from the work, just from listening. The album itself is 16 tracks that contains several tracks from all of his 4 albums and is, therefore, great at accomplishing it's purpose. I know that I'm ready to go out and buy more already.
Rating: 9
