William Crighton - the eponymous debut album
There is an honesty and intensity to Crighton’s music that reflects the environment he has grown up in and though many of the themes in his songs are universal ones, he brings a unique Australian perspective to them.”
~ Post To Wire
From the ABC Music website:
For the deep-voiced songwriter and intense live performer, there were no short cuts taken to arrive at this self-titled album. Beneath each track are thousands of kilometres, and within are stories wrought of trees and roads and dust, soaked in the essence of our ancient continent.
“Recorded in a house on the rugged banks of Burrinjuck Dam, near the South West Slopes region of NSW, the record paints a vivid picture of its protagonist: philosopher, romantic and a “pacifist who sometimes fantasises of killing”. The eleven tracks, which feature Crighton’s wife Jules on backing vocals and brother Luke on bass guitar, are produced by Matt Sherrod and shift between whimsical ballads and full-blooded, expansive rock sojourns.
Woven into Crighton’s classic folk-rock sensibility is vivid prose. These tales are alive with visceral imagery and the echoes of a spiritual upbringing.
Track Listing
1. Love Is Hard To Find
2. Jesus Blues
3. 2000 Clicks
4. Riverina Kid
5. Woman Like You
6. Priest
7. On My Way
8. Dig Your Mind
9. Smile
10. Night For A Dream
11. Woman Like You Reprise
It’s an increasingly rare feeling to break bread with a record that feels legendary – and isn’t 40 years old.
But William Crighton’s debut effort is indeed one of those elusive modern classics, a stirring and powerful songbook with literary ambition.
This collection of tunes that spans alt-country, rock, and psych-folk – with poetic flair – taps into Australian culture and then sets its gaze further, as Crighton ruminates on mortality and the broader human experience.
The tracks sometimes feature murder and suicide, and then tip to the other end of the emotional spectrum: love and loyalty.
William Crighton is sure to prove the most exciting discovery of 2016 for a great many discerning music lovers.
Any “best of the year” list void of this album has been compiled by a hack.“
~ Nicholas Milligan, Meadowland Street
