Beginning very much in the vain of James Yorkston circa Year Of The Leopard, Jamie Cruickshank‘s ‘I Can See Totterdown‘ is a rather rustic piece, seemingly somewhat downbeat, with lyrics that start “Last leaves have eyes of coal, caught in the updraft, white smoke to spin for yarn, where the tree fell in the grove” and more ambiguous prose which, if I’m being totally honest, left me a tad baffled.
On ‘Loserville‘, think the Beta Band paying tribute to John Martyn, a lovely number indeed, before the Bristol based musician’s initially folk tinged ‘New Shoes‘ descends into some fierce, biting, distorted guitar effects while Cruickshank himself sings the considerably less dramatic “let’s make a family with family priorities, I need new shoes, these are worn through.”
The EP’s title comes not only from the closing two words of the latter song, but also from the writer’s sufferance of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and his frustration at the practically non-existent acknowledgement of it as a real and highly unpleasant disease, so the pretty, wintry yearning that permeates the work of artists like Bon Iver or Fleet Foxes, and which runs thorough Cruickshank’s ‘In The Autumn Evening Swoon‘ here, acts as a real tonic.
Overall, Worn Through is agreeable enough, and implies that future work by the musician is likely to be well worthy of further investigation.
Worn Through is released on 1st February through Breakfast Records.
