Singer-songwriter Chris Brain channels Drake, McTell and others as he contemplates transformation, nostalgia and tenderness in times of vulnerability on Album #3

Release Date:  7^th March 2025

Label: Big Sun Records

Formats: CD, Vinyl, Digital

HIGH-POWERED PLAUDITS

Yorkshire singer-songwriter Chris Brain has been attracting some high-powered plaudits over the past couple of years.  His first two albums, Bound to Rise (2022) and Steady Away (2023) caught the attention of both Cerys Matthews and Mark Radcliffe on their respective BBC radio shows and he’s shared stages with such iconic artists as Robert Plant, Jacqui McShee and Martin Simpson. What’s more, his song, Golden Days – the lead single from the Steady Away album – was featured in the A24 movie We Live in Time.

The acclaim that Chris has received focusses particularly upon his fluid, accomplished finger guitar style and the melodicism of his songs.  His influences include John Martyn, Nick Drake, Bert Jansch and Joni Mitchell and I suspect that more than one commentator has noted shades of Ralph McTell in Chris’s songs and in the way that he delivers them.

A LIGHT, SUBTLE APPLICATION OF INSTRUMENTAL ASSISTANCE

For New Light – an album recorded partly in the intimacy of Chris’s allotment shed and partly in the resonant atmosphere of The Nave Studios in Leeds – Chris (vocals, acoustic guitar and synth) is joined by friends Noiak Bedirian (electric guitar), Zoe Cure (keyboards and backing vocals), Owen Spafford (violin), Tom Orrell (bass), Hannah Burgess (backing vocals) and Finn Booth (percussion).  The instrumental assistance is lightly and subtly applied; prominence is given to Chris’s guitar and his honeyed vocal tones. Overall, the impact is a collection of gentle, observational songs that contemplate transformation, nostalgia and tenderness in times of vulnerability – all woven around Chris’s familiar gestures towards the modern world.

YORKSHIRE TONES

It’s the album’s title track that gets New Light underway, with a burst of that signature fingerpicked guitar.  The spirit of Nick Drake pervades the album, and it’s with us right from the start.  Chris plays a choppy guitar figure that’s smoothed and sweetened by Owen’s violin, particularly so as the song reaches its blissful “Let me be the one…” coda.  That Nick Drake spirit stays with us for the pleasant Two Lights, before the vaunted Ralph McTell influence makes an appearance for the peaceful, relaxing, Sun Did Glide.  Chris’s Yorkshire tones cut through as he sings his insightful lyrics and Noiak coaxes a lovely pedal steel-like tone from his guitar. 

The quasi-pedal steel tones stick around for Into the North, one of the album’s standout tracks, and they blend delightfully with Owen’s simmering violin and Chris’s fingerpicked guitar.  The accompaniment develops into something that’s almost dramatic – the perfect counterpoint to Chris’s soft voice and his enigmatic lyrics.

There’s a distinctively traditional feel to New Dying Day, another of my favourite tracks; indeed, there’s a touch of the baroque to Chris’s guitar and Owen’s violin accompaniment, before Chris returns to his default singer-songwriter persona for the bright, folky, Brother.  His guitar lines have a ragtime feel and Noiaks’ electric guitar licks sweep and soar just like the pedal steel that they emulate.

WORLD-WEARY YET HOPEFUL AND OPTIMISTIC

Lines like: “Falling fast, Finishing last.  Glance at the clock and it’s already past” suggest a mood of world-weariness for Feeling Gone, but there’s a hopeful and optimistic undercurrent in the music.  It’s a song that reminds me of The Incredible String Band in one of their brighter moments, especially when Hannah and Zoe add their backing vocals to the mix.  And, as if we needed reminding of what an outstanding guitarist Chris really is, he treats us to a fingerpicking showpiece with the instrumental Rolling On.  It’s very impressive and, perhaps more importantly, it’s a pleasant, dreamy tune that could easily become something of an earworm.

Chris’s sprinkles of sparkling synth add a cosmic edge to the comforting guitar, violin and vocals on the short, incredibly sweet, Shooting Star, and the peaceful mood is carried over to the soft, contemplative One Life, before Chris brings things to a close with Sit and Wonder Why, a song that has a discernable Scottish flavour.  The lyrics observe the passage of time and Chris sings and plays with a ponderous certainty that gives the song a celebratory feel.  It’s a satisfying end to an enjoyable album.

And Chris will be celebrating the release of New Light as he tours the UK and Ireland this Spring.  Details of the tour can be found here.

Watch the official video to New Light, the album’s title track, below:

Chris Brain online: Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / X (formerly Twitter) / YouTube / Bandcamp

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