Northern Ireland-born and breed singer-songwriter, Ben Glover who toured the UK earlier this year with American fellow act Angel Snow, one of a select list of acts he has written with is a busy young man. Gretchen Peters, Mary Gauthier, producer, musician Neilson Hubbard and Rod Picott are also to be found on the list, plus there is a project he is currently involved with, Soundtrack To A Ghost Story. Featuring most of the above plus Kim Richey among others the album is due out in September, I for one can’t wait.
Glover’s descriptive lyrics on Atlantic; as with the material featured on Amy Speace’s new album are hugely evocative. As his memorable trips to Greenwood, Alabama and Dyess, Arkansas to visit the grave of Robert Johnson and where Johnny Cash was raised, respectively gave him not only a feel for the place but in his superbly crafted lyrics the opportunity to share his adventure in such a vivid style.
His astute style of songwriting coupled with a nice production, musicians and vocalists sympathetic to his lyrics ensure the listener has in Atlantic an album awash in material they can repeatedly go back to. Songs like “The Mississippi Turns Blue”, “Oh Soul” and the opening, heart wrenching, near brooding “This World Is A Dangerous Place”. Atlantic offers so much, his songwriter alone is a study, and with his ability to change from singer-songwriter blues to country in a heartbeat, the latter genre represented by the eerie lonesome to the bone pedal steel guitar doused country heartbreaker “True Love’s Breaking My Heart” and there is more.
For with Glover’s recent resume also includes co-writes with Peters in the song “Blackbirds” that not only figures on her recently released album, but she used I as the title-track. Gauthier likewise has gained acclaim via something she wrote with the hugely talented Glover.
To go with the above you also have country tune “True Love…” recently covered by hot new act Striking Matches, and one destined to be covered by others “The Mississippi Turns Blue” (one of two on which Peters’ lends harmony vocal support) and with a jaunty rhythmic beat darkly sketched ballad “Take And Pay”.
There are others too (albeit the last two or three songs lack variation of before, nothing serious only a little variation in presentation required), go check them out for yourself, and you too will if not already become a fan of this world class singer-songwriter able to set in stone a feel to a song. Oh, the title of the record comes from looking out at the Atlantic ocean while Glover and the boys, Irish musicians Matt McGinn and Colm McClean plus Americans Hubbard and Kris Donegan worked on the record up in Donegal.
Maurice Hope