Album Review

William Fitzsimmons – The Sparrow And The Crow

• 6th Nov 2009

The delightfully titled third album from this bearded wonder begins with a beautifully uplifting tone; warm, intimate and well rounded. Fitzsimmons is emotionally soft without being whiney, unfortunately an area where so many acoustic musicians have fallen down in the past. He quickly makes excellent use of female vocals, which wrap the melody in a downy blanket of velveteen goodness leaving you feeling all warm and autumnal, with the smell of toasted marshmallows and apple pie wafting in through the window.

The more you listen to Fitzsimmons, the more his gentle, feather-light tones remind you of a less socially –aware Ben Harper, a comparison not to be sniffed at. The simplicity of his songs is a master class in “simple but effective” – there is nothing intricate about his music, but this is no bad thing as you find that rather than straining to catch the minutiae of the each song the whole sound is able to wash over you, letting you flow into a completely different ‘Lake Placid’ from its crocodile ridden namesake.

But this is no album to fall asleep to. Every few songs something like “If You Would Come Back Home” comes along and rouses you gently with a powerfully tender chorus rich in texture and passion before you are allowed to lull back into the raw intimacy of “Please Forgive Me (Song of the Crow)”. Fitzsimmons shows himself to be everything but a one-trick pony in terms of style with this album, and whilst the overall style may be broadly consistent he dips and dives into different areas of the folky/acoustic sound he has crafted for himself with songs like “You Still Hurt Me” providing a much needed bluesy, almost upbeat injection to the album.

The album ends on the appropriately named “Good Morning”, true to its name, does rouse you both with its uplifting lyrics (the song fades to the repeated phrase “you will find love”) and its gentle but stimulating melody, helped along by the subtle use of percussion which gives the song some bass without being too heavy. This is not an album to get you up and moving but as its closing notes fade out you’ll more than likely find yourself feeling that bit more optimistic about the day ahead of you. The only way is up for Fitzsimmons after this stunning work of emotion, warmth and above all, immense depth.