Sounds like…
The soundtrack for a Western bar of love lost and gained.
The review
American singer-songwriter Cory Williams wrote his new album ‘Bird Mouth’ after breaking up a long term relationship and starting a new one afresh. It paints a picture of frustration and sadness for the past and hope and promise for the future. Dusty rock with a country twist to it, it is a very American feeling album.
Single ‘I Hope You Do’ remains a huge favourite of mine. The quick-fire, foot-stomping guitar riff reminds me of fellow indie rockers Sea Wolf and Gregory Laswell. Cory also has one of those weathered voices that works so well with acoustic guitars, turning into electric ones. Add in a striding beat and swells of strings and you have an instant classic. Elsewhere ‘Begin Again’ brings in the twanging country guitars to the easy listening mid-tempo rock. It sounds like a David Grey song but with a county twist. Indeed, the Austin based musician lets the blues seep through a lot of tracks like ‘Backseat’.
The other two standout tracks on the album for me are ‘Josephine House’ and ‘One Fell Swoop’. The former is a radio hit in waiting. It is quintessential Americana-pop. The latter is a dusty, low bass jam that runs the blues and the whiskey chaser side by side. The way Cory runs the acoustic and electric guitar riffs in a call/response motion whilst the muted drums rustle behind them – it just works perfectly.
Cory Williams has created a homely album with ‘Bird Mouth’. Bouncing between sad reflection and hopeful futures, it’s a soundtrack for a bar of beginnings and ends. Whilst some of it falls a little outside my usual musical taste, I can still appreciate great song craftsmanship.
Recommended track: I Hope you Do
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Cory Williams - Bird Mouth