Leo Abrahams The Grape and The Grain

Leo Abrahams is clearly a talented guy. The London native started young on the guitar and has amassed an impressive list of accomplishments to date, from supporting REM and playing with Eno on Mount Fuji to recording with Nick Cave, Paul Simon and David Holmes. Obviously a gentleman in much demand. Getting his first break playing with the lovely Imogen Heap, he simultaneously worked on assembling a collection of compositions that would become his first album Honeytrap before going on to record two more records, the most recent of which, The Unrest Cure, featured star turns from many unusual collaborators resulting in a breezy, open sound which veered between orchestral pop and more experimental, spoken-word musings.

In 2009 Abrahams has gone back to his acoustic roots for his fourth studio album The Grape and The Grain. Mixing folksy strumming with celtic progressions, stylistically there are echoes of namesake Leo Kottke in the delicate intricacies and tightly woven compositions. The record is immediately pleasing to the ear with beautifully sparse instrumentation providing flourishes of crescendo where needed, dropping back to nothing but the guitar elsewhere.

Indeed, the album is worth buying for the first four tracks alone. Masquerade kicks off with some delicate chiming melodies, delivering visions of spring sunshine and crisp blue skies. A plaintive cello sits further down the mix adding depth, while simple piano and violin accompaniments arrive to embellish the track and take it to its jovial conclusion. Album standout Come In the Morning, adds brushes of light drums and accordion to a jubilant composition that simply soars in the 'chorus', ebbing and flowing like waves, yet there is always the sense of precise placement, of every element in every bar having been given an equal weight and purpose.

There is little room for filler here and Abrahams' chaste arrangements shine. The music presents an air of cosy, protective warmth, wrapping itself around the listener like a hug from an old friend, and the mood ranges from fiery-eyed hope to drifting contemplation. Spring Snow rolls along smoothly with some emotive slide-guitar before breaking into wonderful little melodic motifs, piano and guitar working in harmony.

It must be noted however that around the middle of the album things start to stagnate slightly. Blind is a little too easily forgotten, whilst the title track proves rather a sugary, watered-down disappointment after the solidity of the first four songs. New Wine continues with another jaunty melody, but a distinct impression emerges that its all getting a little too repetitive; the overlap between songs begins to blur, the tinkling, 'rise and fall' melody lines are wheeled out again and consequently there is a palpable sense of regurgitation, of a slight unwillingness to push a little further.

The last third of the record somewhat ironically rectifies this dip with Ends Meet trying something a little different structurally and succeeding while The Northern Jane sparkles with a cunningly simplistic and down-to-earth feel. Closer Daughter of Persuasion is clearly the epic finale it was intended to be and works superbly well. An interesting record then from a talented young British musician. Not quite as boundary-pushing as his previous release, it remains intriguing, packed full of melody and fresh composition. The Grape and The Grain stands proudly outside the mainstream, providing something a little different from the rest of today's guitar-based music and definitely warrants further investigation.