Leo
Harmonay - The Blink of an Eye
Few
albums come as sincere and straight-forward as this. It is certainly common in
the folk music genre to find a spartan approach to both songwriting and
production; in some ways, brevity is one of the form’s pre-requisites. However,
simplicity alone is not artful. The simplicity must be shaped, given form, and
above all else, imbued with more than a touch of the self whose hands are
molding it into a statement of some sort. Leo Harmonay has the technical chops
to pull off anything he wants to do in the genre; his first album, Somewhere
Over the Hudson, conclusively and quickly established that. His second album,
The Blink of an Eye, does something very different. It shows him to be a
recording artist and writer in full command of his powers and, for whom, simplicity
is a by-product of knowing exactly what he wants to say and how to put it for
his listeners. This sort of certainty is a pleasure to hear from anyone.
Conviction plays well.
The
conviction doesn’t gradually emerge. It’s apparent in even the introduction to
his opening song, “Up to You”. Stormy guitar and accompanying drums come in and
briefly swell before dispersing. The song begins in earnest with a boot stomp
charged tempo while acoustic and electric guitar trade complementary melody
lines. It varies little from this course and Harmonay delivers an impassioned
vocal with the arrangement that plays to its musical strengths. “River Dancer”
is a much more obviously structured song with a bit of idiosyncratic character,
but it’s also much more of a straight down the middle folk song than the opener
ever intends to be. Another idiosyncratic side of the songwriting emerges on
the song “Washing Myself Clean”, but it also draws from a deep well of
spiritually-inspired imagery that connects well with personal reflection.
Harmonay
dives into the blues once again on “Gone Are the Days” and its layered
instrumental attack shows a great deal more obvious sophistication than on the
earlier “Up to You”. Harmonay’s vocals are among his best here, particularly on
the chorus. “In the Morning Light” is about as far from his rootsy influences
that Harmonay goes on this album thanks to the rock and roll attitude heard in
its use of electric guitar, but he doesn’t continue in that vein from here.
Instead, the next song “Dirty River Town” is the clearest folk song in the
collection and resists any temptation to expand its musical aims. Harmonay’s
vocal here is excellent as well and his phrasing deserves most of the praise.
His final two full songs are the title number and “The Joy in Our Sadness”.
Both are lovely and deeply wise creations with as much musical merit as lyrical
excellence. They are also the album’s
longest tracks, but there’s never a second when Harmonay sounds like he’s
bitten off more than he can chew. Instead, The Blink of an Eye has a
wide-reaching steadiness derived from the confident performances he gives of
each song. He clearly spent a lot of time readying this material for recording
and eventual release. The result is a second album that far exceeds his fine
debut and hints at even greater glories to come.
9
out of 10 stars
David
Shouse
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