It’s extremely difficult to know where to start with Peter Crawford. In theory, it should be fairly simple to place him in a musical pigeon hole. This is a musician with a fantastically powerful and soulful voice, with straightforward functional acoustic guitar accompaniment, whose setlist comprises mostly of original songs, with some perfectly placed covers here and there.
Sorted, surely?
Fortunately, no. See, there are two major problems with this approach. One, I hate putting musicians in pigeon holes. There is no such thing as a pop musician or an indie musician; there is just the music that should be judged on its own merits, not on the comparison of its genre. Second, and best, is that Peter Crawford simply can’t be cast in any particular pigeon hole.
See, while my original assessment is technically still accurate, this is only the tip of an iceberg of sheer musical talent. It’s like saying Beethoven was a classical composer. While a true statement, it sells the musician short and doesn’t give you the full scope of that musician’s worth. And believe me, Peter Crawford is worth your time.
Uniquely, for this review, two CD’s had been provided for me to listen to. Whilst both happily inform me that his music is online somewhere, and he can be followed on Facebook and the usual digital channels, I have yet to verify this. It is of course possible that not all the tracks I had access to on disc have made it online, and vice versa.
The first track I listened to was a cover of Mike & The Mechanics’ ‘Over My Shoulder’, which immediately told me two keys things about Peter’s whole musical approach. Firstly, that the emphasis is very clearly on the powerhouse that is his voice, and that he has some serious courage. ‘Over My Shoulder’ is a notoriously tricky song to cover, and yet he makes it sound effortless. My only initial criticism would be that he doesn’t do a lot to make it his own, but that’s balanced out by the sheer amount of moxie it takes to do that song in the first place.
Next up was ‘Awake I’m Dreaming’, which is the first glimpse I got of Peter’s song writing skills. Again, the emphasis is on the voice, with the same blend of power and soul as the previous track, but here we begin to hear a development in the accompaniment. Normally, I wouldn’t point this out, but this strings-esque pedalled note behind the guitar adds a slightly more ethereal effect to the piece. This in turn not only adds wonderfully to the lyrical content, but forces Peter’s voice to contain some of that power in order to create a more intimate atmosphere. The final two tracks on this first demo EP are also covers that I wasn’t as familiar with as ‘Over My Shoulder’, but both do an equally good job and further reinforcing the impression I had gained of Peter Crawford’s musical style.
So far, so standard. But then I listened to the second CD, entitled Six Strings… Keep Me Sane, and realised that I was listening to the evolution of a musician. What struck me about this album was just how much more realised Peter’s music is, and not just the instrumentation or the accompaniment. If ‘Awake I’m Dreaming’ (the only original from the Demo) was just a glimpse at what Peter could do, this is a 10 song showcase of carefully crafted and complex songs, built to show off just what his voice can do. And boy how far it has come.
The sheer amount of polish and work that has gone into honing his vocal skill has added several new layers of intimacy, depth and nuance to his work. ‘Lady Coming Down’ gives you a first peek at this, but for me, its the seventh track on the album, ‘Halo’ that really sells Peter’s range in the three core areas; pitch, power and tone.
From the intimate moody atmosphere of ‘Velvet Shadows’ to the full on, slightly Springsteen-esque ‘Straight JD’ to the low grumbles and sudden battle cries of ‘Halo’, it is very clear that Six Strings... really is Peter Crawford in full flight, showing off his fantastic voice to the very maximum. Awake I’m Dreaming, while good, really was just a demo, and this is only his second album; this guy is headed for even greater things, and I can’t wait to hear what comes next.
2012 looks to be a fantastically busy year for Peter, with a huge amount of gigs set for January and February around the South West, primarily in Devon & Cornwall, before a grand European Tour locked in for mid to late March. If you’re in the area and are interested in checking out this fantastic musician and his work live, head on over to www.peter-crawford.com for a complete gig listing. Peter Crawford can also be found on Facebook and Twitter and all the usual social networking channels.
Review by Paul Barnes
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peter@peter-crawford.com
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