Moreland offers more than ever, an unexpected statement of such quiet power as to assure his due place at the top table.

Release Date: 31st May 2024

Label: Old Omens (via Thirty Tigers)

Format: CD / vinyl / digital

John Moreland has carefully and credibly earned himself a place in the secretive files of cult listening, that august group of individuals, who, always steering a consistently true path, somehow avoid much in the way of mass acclaim. Which, however rewarding for the soul, makes for a tougher haul in this business called music. This is album number seven, since becoming one to watch in 2011, and appears somewhat by surprise. Surprise? Well, given the singer-songwriter effectively took on a self-imposed period of silence from November 202 2 and stopped working entirely. He took an entire year off from playing shows and didn’t use a smartphone for 6 months, the lucky(!) devil. The result of that unplugged year at home is Visitor.  Moreland recorded the album, at his home in Bixby, Oklahoma, in only ten days, playing nearly every instrument himself. Indeed, the near only other participant is his wif,e adding her vocal to one of the 12 songs.

Has this sojourn helped, has it re-fuelled his muse? Ultimately only you can be the judge, but my two pennorth is that you really, really must make the effort to discover. Starting with the low key The Future Is Coming Fast, just a man and his guitar, it is the well-hewn hoarse beauty of his voice that first makes contact. If Springsteen, and, especially, Nebraska, is a point of reference, let’s just say Bruce can or couldn’t hold a note as plaintively and plangently as the tone Moreland has here at his command. A gorgeous opener, it offers a mix of yearning, temepered with a reflective reality. Ending on a repeated invocation of the title, it sends goosey shivers up the spine. Gentle Violence adds a bass and drums, unafraid to embrace their simple scaffold, an electric guitar and some background organ building up the wider screen. “There’s a gentle violence, and miles of silence, separating you and me” conjures up a sprawling vista of solitude, the vocal a wearied statement of regret, made all the more perfect by a raw wail of harmonica, painting in the emotions otherwise understated.

One Man Holds The World Hostage may not indicate who that man may be, but this swaying clip-clop of a song opens up many possibles, one “Agent Orange” perhaps a prime suspect. Irrespective, it is a handsome and thoughtful song, the construct of multiple Morelands proving an effective backing band, along the lines of some of Shakey’s more laid back units, a pared back Stray Gators or International Harvesters. The brief 45 second mandolin interlude of Sobo makes for a change of pace, the name perhaps also casting a hint of what else Moreland did in his year. This allows the next song, The More You Say, The Less It Means to be arguably the most searingly effective song yet, a dark song of introspective angst to be up there with the bleakest of Richard Thompson. There is a beautifully elegiac acoustic guitar solo, from John Calvin Abney, to bridge the two halves of the song.

Will The Heavens Catch Us is a meandering country blues, and a song that features tasteful baritone guitar and organ, an amiable shoogle of, perhaps, almost a little hope, the mandolin making a welcome return, its tinkle a good complement to the twang of the guitar: “Love and mercy, gasoline and matches, you say you’ve a few bridges left to burn…….” Blue Dream Carolina, in name at least, sounds like an ages old hymn, which is actually how it feels, set to a rhythmic drum and organ. Suddenly I am realising just how sound and solid a piece of work is this album, that realisation seeping in, note by note, drop by exquisite drop.

Silver Silver slows things down again, having me finding a deal of Steve Earle also lurking in Moreland’s timbre. But, comparisons aside, he is is his own man, a singular talent to be compared more with than against, an equal. Track number 9 is likely the most instantly commercial song here, and also the most upbeat, as well as the one with his wife, Pearl Rachinsky on backing vocals. And I think a fiddle gets added to Moreland’s muster of instruments. Good as it is, colour me contrary, it seems just the slightest out of place in its liveliness, but, as he says, in the closing salvo, “ain’t much I can do about it“, also its title, the sudden ending earning a consolatory tip of the hat.

No Time switches back to maudlin central, the mournful vocal offset by some sweetly melodic picking. “I don’t have the time to cry“. Eek. Another short instrumental, Bixhoma Interlude, then slots in, slow sawing fiddle allowing some rumination, ahead the closing and titular track. “I am a visitor; every where I go, I am a visitor”, he sings, and it is worthy summation of all Moreland’s accumulated wisdoms, drawn from his period of world withdrawal. It has done him good, I think, I hope. It has certainly lifted his already worthwhile talent several notches upward, now the equal of his influences. A staggeringly mature coming of time, as he ascends from cult to top table. Commended.

Here is a live Gentle Violence:

John Moreland online: Website /Facebook / Youtube / Instagram

Keep up with At The Barrier: Facebook / X (formerly Twitter) / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube