The Shropshire countryside is embedded in the very fabric of this first proper release by Jonathan Day, a writer, painter and poet whose curiosity has taken him around the world and back on a journey of self-discovery, from Johannesburg to the heart of the Black Country, his true inspirational home. Rich in atmosphere, the album offers a contemplative, almost spiritual collection of songs, drawing heavily from a deep love of nature. With an almost tangible kinship to the natural world, Jonathan writes in an unashamedly poetic fashion from the outset with Canticle, a song encompassing all the natural elements. The theme organically threads its way through the subsequent ten songs, most notably on The Heron, the Stickleback and the Shrew and Yellow Eyed Crow.
Very much a collaborative project, Jonathan is joined by an impressive cast of musicians including the Urban Folk Quartet’s dual fiddles of Joe Broughton and Paloma Trigas, The Old Dance School’s Helen Lancaster and Tom Chapman on viola and percussion respectively, Emma Capp on cello and Kevin Dempsey on guitar. Chris While also lends her unique voice to some of the songs on the album, most notably with a fine duet on Bonnie Light Horseman/My Grandfather the Boy.
Jonathan likes his music to speak for itself and on this release it does. Subtitled ‘Contemporary rural music from Shropshire’, CARVED IN BONE not only maintains a lyrical feel throughout but also a calming serenity; a mood record for dew soaked mornings and autumn afternoons.
Link to review: http://www.allanwilkinson.co.uk/node/1341