Review of Findlay Brown's CD "Separated By The Sea"

Findlay Brown: Separated By The Sea

Inspired by wanting to re-ignite his relationship with his long-term Danish girlfriend, Separated By The Sea is Findlay Brown's debut album.

This record is never in short supply as far as romantic endeavour is concerned...soothing country-tinged vocals, wistful picked melodies, heart-felt lyrics and occasionally backed by string arrangements - this is a contemporary, yet intricate take on 60's folk with incredibly clean and polished pop production.

In many ways this is an artist who shares big similarities with Swedish star Jose Gonzalez, not only are they both musically comparable, but they both carry huge pop appeal and boast advertised soundtracks with gigantic corporate companies. Findlay Brown's 'Come Home' is currently used in the MasterCard advert, and whilst it's certainly no 'Heartbeats', the songs delicate beauty casts an intriguing spell and unsurprisingly provides one of the albums highlights. Remove the vocals from 'But You Love Me' and the reversed electronics and guitar arrangement could quite easily mistaken for a wonderful Fourtet number, and the beautifully multi-layered 'Don't You Know I Love You' provides another highpoint, rolling in at over 7 minutes long and featuring a slightly military drum rhythm with banjo, various sources of percussion, guitar and morphed electronics.

Though the "I want you back, want you back, I want you back for good " love theme may become a little tiring after a while, this a strong debut that is sure to gain many admirers. Separated By The Sea is the kind of radio-friendly folk not experienced since Jose Gonzalez stole the hearts of the record buying public. Well worth checking out.

• www.findlaybrown.com

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