Charlie Barnard - Ivory Serpents & The Starving Tree

  by Andrew Carver

published: 27 / 9 / 2008

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Review

‘Ivory Serpents and the Starving Tree’ is the third album from Charlie Barnard, an artist I really wish I’d heard of earlier. His direct singing style and energetically strummed folk rock should be right up the alley with anyone who admires the work of Nikki Sudden and the Jacobites. He’s also garnered comparisons to Syd Barrett (not so immediately evident to my ears) and Robyn Hitchcock (much closer). Like Hitchcock, Barnard would seem to have a pronounced affection for Bob Dylan: The tumbling, gnarled vocals of the solo acoustic ‘Ancient King Predicts The Tide’ and lyrical mood are highly reminiscent of Dylan’s (probably uncomfortably close to some), but albeit a bit less obscure in their wordplay. On other numbers, Barnard is backed by troop of pals (not unlike Sudden’s modus operandi on his solo albums). The organ work of Dan Friess is particularly effective, pushing along the opening number ‘Through August into Autumn’, garnishing ‘Lincoln County Blues’ and adding a spooky haze to ‘Teach Your Face to Cry’. It’s a winning album for those who like their folk with a harder edge.

Track Listing:-

1 Through August Into Autumn
2 Ancient King Predicts The Tide
3 Lincoln County Blues
4 Jesus Sleeps On This Side
5 Love Makes Calm A Bleeding Heart
6 Teach Your Face To Cry
7 Ivory Serpents & The Starving Tree
8 Valley Of Windows
9 Silver Vine
10 Protest Song Book