Album Review

Ruarri Joseph – Shoulder To The Wheel

• 2nd Sep 2010

‘Nervous Grin’ weeps, wallows and soothes from its acoustic base to open up a foraging, well thought out full length. A lot of soul-searching, acoustic weaving and nostalgia is crammed into just over two minutes, but it sets the tone and pace perfectly for what is to follow. It is a poignant reminder of the reflective tendencies of this New Zealand via Cornwall, wandering muso. The acoustic base is the firm foundation for the low to mid-tempo projections of Joseph, as the theme of love’s ability to leave you feeling lost and helpless is revisited several times over, but most strikingly in the rising, folk strained ‘An Orchard For An Apple’.

Poetic longing hangs over and out of ‘As Always’:
“I tipped the waiter, ate my share, forgave the years that took me there as always.
Wrote the longest joke in the shortest way.”

Here, Joseph shows his craft at being the proponent of the plight of the thinking man. A King Creosote gloss coats the melancholy and acoustic whining. ‘A Fool Of Us All’, contains a country folk twang that’s spurred on by a haunting harmonica, as this hard-wearing songster begins to seep into your psyche.

What is most striking about this stirring album is that despite the fact that each one of the tunes has an epic force and feel. There’s snappiness to the delivery and brevity to the points made by the sincere Joseph about life and humble existence, with the mystical Dylan-esque, ‘Keep On Strolling’ being a case in point.

The harmonica hounds out a woe-begotten intro to the lacklustre, blues laden and wholly instrumental delve, ‘Cavemen , Yellow, an Ordinary Life’. A deeper and meaningful Paul Weller touch is tagged onto the mundanely meandering ‘Glance Across The Street’, keeping the intrigue levels rising.

Ruarri Joseph combines poetry, a serious edge and a soothing acoustic touch to impressive effect throughout.

Rating: 4/5