Chris Wood - So Much to Defend album review: Haunting folk for every persuasion

CHRIS WOODSo Much to Defend *****Chris Wood Music

So Much To Defend
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Artist: Chris Wood
Genre: Singer / Songwriter
Label: Chris Wood Music

The distillation of ideas crammed into Chris Wood's magnificent new collection is breathtaking. "This pen will be worn out before too long/ There's a mile or two in every single song," The English folkie sings in his customary deadpan style, following it with "now they say that everything's for free" on More Fool Me.

The perils of choosing an artistic path in life ebb and flow alongside meditations on mammon, faith, love and the unending challenges of parental love (This Love Won't Let You Fail). Wood is a musical documentarian of immense complexity and subtlety. His choice of flugelhorn, Hammond and muted percussion, alongside his own precision-engineered guitar, are pitch-perfect accompaniments.

Spartan, dense, haunting. chriswoodmusic.co.uk

Siobhán Long

Siobhán Long

Siobhán Long, a contributor to The Irish Times, writes about traditional music and the wider arts