Been Listening [Double CD]

Well I got this a week ago now and I know it's a cliche to say "it hasn't come off my CD player yet" but that's pretty much true. It really is something special this.

I bought 'A Larum' last year and thought it fabulous so the usual trepidations surfaced approaching this follow-up. But I needn't have worried. This is such a good effort. It really is. If you haven't come across Johnny Flynn before it might be helpful to know he's intrinsically part of the London scene labelled by some as 'nu-folk' which also includes Mumford & Sons, Laura Marling and Noah and the Whale. Much as I like Mumford & Sons album and really love Laura Marling's second album I have to say I reckon this to be the best that 'set' of artists has come up with yet. It really is that good.

The opener was the one trailed publicly before release. Having listened to the rest of the album numerous times now, I can't think why. Though 'Kentucky Pill' is a good track it is by far not the best thing on this album. Any of 'Lost and Found', 'Churlish May', 'Howl', 'Been Listening', 'Prizefighter', 'Amazon Love' or most especially 'The Water' are a huge step up.... Anyway, the opener's good without being a winner but what follows is just sublime. 'Lost and Found' is where Johnny Flynn comes closest to Nick Drake on this album - something I can always hear in him, if not explicitly then underneath. Great song that sets the album up wonderfully. 'Churlish may' has some wonderful mournful brass that could have come straight from the climax of 'The Wicker Man' - if you've seen the original film you'll know what I'm on about, the brass played on the MayDay march to the beach... Wonderful stuff again. 'Been Listening' adds a bit of blues to the album and it is a great track. But it is with track 7 that this album is lifted into something that will last a long, long time. 'The Water' is a duet between Flynn and Laura Marling and it is songwriting at its best. Listen to the bonus 'alternative version' of this on the second CD. It's sung by Sofia Larrson and her voice changes the song entirely, it's a folky ethereal version of Delibes' 'Flower Duet' to my ear. Reminds me of a band called Smoke Fairies I had the pleasure of putting on live in Birmingham a year ago (if you haven't come across them give them a listen - you'll like!). Brilliant song and the second CD is worth it for that alone. 'Amazon Love' returns to the beautiful vocals of 'The Water' where Flynn is aided by Lillie Flynn. Again this is wonderful. The closer is the longish ballad 'The Prizefighter and the Heiress' which seems to be a song in two halves. Fabulous ending to the album.

But the album is more than just Johnny Flynn. He seems to have assembled a great band of musicians (The Sussex Wit) to back him up and cowrite. If there was any justice this would sell millions. As stated above - it really SHOULD be Mercury Prize nominated if anything is. Really this is something that will be listened to years from now. (10/10)

Johnny Flynn meant nothing to me until I clicked an Amazon review of his last album "A Larum" to read various reviews from what appear to be normally sane people making humongous claims for this man's talent not least of all that he is "better than Nick Drake". This a big statement indeed and one which remains a tad premature if truth be told, since while Flynn is good, he is not that good. Indeed the comparision is an odd one since Flynn owes as much to great musicians like Richard Thompson and deeper folk tradition.

This is evident again on his new album "Been Listening" where Flynn does ooze promise by the bucket load and with his band the Sussex Wit he forms part of that movement which travels on the vehicle of "Nu Folk" which is taking British music by storm. The presence of Laura Marling one of the vanguard of this genre on this album who has regularly performed with Flynn demonstrates the mutual respect amongst its leading lights and we can but marvel at the collective weight of young talent emerging in this tightly knit field of minstrels.

Another Amazon reviewer from across the pond Mr Peter Reeve ably described Flynn as "very much part of the current British Folk scene, albeit South African by birth, Flynn is a 25-year old actor, poet and songwriter. His voice is expressive rather than melodic. He may not quite hit the notes, but he feels them" A splendid description and one which holds equally true on Johnny Flynn's new double album "Been listening" a very fine and solid album "sardine packed" with great songs and fascinating demo's.

What are the highlights? Well the opener "Kentucky Pill" is a joyous confection of horns and what sounds like on occasions a miniature Jamaican steel drum band(?). It is fine start and is followed swiftly by one of the outstanding pinnacles of the album which is "Churlish May" a hybrid mixture of folk and pop which has brilliant backing by the band and a dry as dust vocal by Flynn which at the same time could not be bettered by any of his contemporaries. "The Water" has the word centrepiece pasted all over it and is a duet with Laura Marling. It is a tender and old fashioned acoustic ballad which sounds utterly timeless. "Amazon love" is a traditional folk lament which I have no doubt should be dedicated to our favourite web site, while "Agnes" is an uptempo and rocking folk anthem with real echoes of Richard Thompson. Finally the "Prizefighter and the heiress" will see grown men turn to one side in fear of mockery as a tear gently rolls down their cheek, until it picks up half way through into a more hard edged beast with a feel of the "old West" about it. True, there are some songs on here which I can only describe as "samey" and I am not sure yet if any of these quite match "Brown trout blues" and "The Box" from "A Larum", but only repeated listens will fully answer this question and I am fully up for that! Overall "Been listening" does mark a real progression and on the songs highlighted in this review and others across the LP it is a hugely confident sophomore album from Flynn and co. More than this it highlights an artist who grows in stature by the minute and someone who we should be listening to with an intensity.

Earthy, honest stuff, with an edginess that makes it less sacharrin sweet than some of the current London folk fare. Gives it more longevity on the playlist.