Micah P Hinson - Micah P Hinson and the Red Empire Orchestra

  by Daniel Cressey

published: 9 / 8 / 2008

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Review

“I kind of liked him better when he was miserable,” muttered one member of the audience after Micah P. Hinson finished showcasing his new songs by proposing to his girlfriend on the stage of the Union Chapel in London last year. Having made his name with tortured country songs it was always going to risky for the former drug addict and ex-con to get his life on track and get happy. So it is great relief to be able to whole-heartedly endorse his happiness in reviewing ‘Micah P. Hinson and the Red Empire Orchestra’. His old formula is here, where he builds his songs simply out of sometimes only one refrain, slowly adding more desperation to his voice as it repeats, building to almost unbearable peaks. Fans of his previous material will not be disappointed by ‘Come Home Quickly, Darlin’’, ‘I Keep Havin’ These Dreams’, and ‘The Fire Came Up to My Knees’ which perfect this method. On top of this though there is more nuance on this release. These songs come with more involved structures and the strings provided by his makeshift ‘orchestra’ also seem more integral to the songs than those on his previous records. When he cuts loose with a more traditional ‘proper song’ structure, such as on the single ‘When We Embraced’, the result is a stunningly good song. This latest album deserves to cement his reputation as a serious talent. Hinson previously produced some good songs out of misery and now he has produced some great ones out of sorting himself out. God knows what sort of music he will produce if his life gets still better.

Track Listing:-

1 Come Home Quickly | Darlin'
2 Tell Me It Ain't So
3 When We Embraced
4 I Keep Havin' These Dreams
5 Throw the Stone
6 Sunrise over the Olympus Mons
7 The Fire Came up to My Knees
8 You Will Find Me
9 The Wishing Well and the Willow Tree
10 We Won't Have to Be Lonesome
11 Dyin' Alone

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