Mixed bag
Seattle based Singer Songwriter Aaron English's tunes are piano led anthems, his voice is diverse, often sounding older and far more grizzled than he appears and his songs also follow this diversity, ranging from the intense and minimal 'Doves' which sounds very much like James Blunt to the polar opposite with a mix of electro, Van Morrison-esque pop, brass, Gospel and any number of other influences, it seems nothing is considered too left field.
The resulting record is a very middle of the road mainstream sounding effort, it should attract fans of acts like James Blunt, Robbie Williams, Chris Rea or Peter Gabriel; tracks like 'Sleight Of Heart' especially bring to mind Gabriel, an 80s pop edge pervades with electro backing and funky bass and at over seven minutes it feels very long.
The straight forward piano led tracks are far and away the best tunes on the album, cutting away the cheesy backgrounds and 80s frippery to sound warm and powerful but gentle, tunes like 'Peace' are solid and effective, the brass tones woven through are touching and his vocals beautifully husky.
Unfortunately there aren't enough of these tracks and straight away 'A Northern Sort Of Silence' is back with the pop backing, sounding for all the world like a Robbie Williams album track. An extremely mixed bag; English obviously has a decent tune in him and his vocals are agreeable and solid but those arrangements are very hit and miss, needing very much to be brought into the here and now.