Album Review: Ernest Graves - Confessions From a Western

Ernest Graves is an Alt Country/Folk Punk/Indie/Americana/"Y'alternative" project from one time front man of Kent fuzz-punkers The Nightmares, David Johnston.

These days David/Ernest has been channelling his musical spirits into this eclectic project and new album "Confessions From a Western" is his third full length release under this moniker. He has kindly given us an early listen (the album's official release is this Sunday, September 29th).

The album opener 'Dead Motel' starts with what seems to be the sound of a tape recorder clicking on, or a cable being plugged in, and then softly starts a lofi guitar riff

that floats around in a melancholy, wavvy kind of way before the drums and vocals come in. Second track 'Drinkin' It' follows a similar flow as the first track, the electric guitar parts on this one add a nice blue grass twang.

The vocals sound like a slightly drunken cowboy singing the blues, an impression that fits the material perfectly and carries through the rest of the album.

Third song 'Stay the Night' starts out similar enough with a slow acoustic riff but after the first verse this track takes on a much more experimental indie aspect. In the mix you hear some fuzzy guitar or bass effects and plenty of interesting instruments added (was that a glockenspiel i just heard!?). The sonic texture on this track is incredibly satisfying and adds lots of depth and tone to the material. This song also contains the saddest 'yeehaw' you will hear all year, gauranteed.

Next track 'Coyote' opens with a plucky walking riff that scratches a specific 'around-the-campfire' itch. This is a short song at only 1 minute 42 seconds. Its one of the more typically 'country' tracks on the album but again is elevated by these textural background sounds; a floating, high synth sound and towards the end of the track the sounds of people talking come through the mix and it almost feels like you're in the back room of a pub listening to the song being played live whilst the audience talk among themselves.

Onto song number 5, 'Hold On', and we're into much more Indie territory, it sounds almost like it could be a Bright Eyes/Conor Oberst song, one of the older more stripped back and confessional ones. For the most part this song is just one twiddley guitar riff and vocals, however once in the middle of the track and again at the end is this building synth-organ sound which gives you this epic, almost spiritual feeling of being lifted up along with it (or maybe that's just me).

'Find Yourself a Light' is track 6, it feels kind of half way between the vibes of the first couple songs and the third track, with its easy structure and fuzzy, almost garage rock guitar riff sat relatively low in the mix

'Summertime' is back to the slow, simple riff, sad confessional feeling, but now behind it is a wall of eery sound, bulding towards the end of the track as the vocals fade out.

'Rhinestones Mistaken for Tears' sounds to me like Bob Dylan bought an 80s drum machine, a reverb pedal and put loads of echo on his mic. And I mean that in the best possible way. 10/10 vibes on this one.

'Fade Away' is back to the feel of Hold On and Summertime, just a good, solid, simple song. Similar for next track 'SATAN' despite the name suggesting something maybe a bit more out there, these two tracks next to eachother could be seen as the base line for this album, not that they're less good than any other tracks here, but by this point in the album you will have grown used to the song stuctures enough that they feel familiar.

Album Closing track 'There Aint Enough Kerosene in the World for Me' is full of those interesting background sounds again, adding that sense of depth and texture, it builds and floats around the guitar and vocals nicely and brings the album to a satisfying close that is true to the tone throughout.

Review by: Jim