T.E.Morris - And You Were the Hunter

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 29 / 6 / 2013

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Review

T.E.Morris is by far the best singer-songwriter to have come out of Leicester for years, not that Leicester knows this. Her Name is Calla, his day-time band with which he is also the main songwriter, have blown me away many a time to little and big crowds, but they still remain an indie Leicester secret whom are much bigger aboard than in Britain. Tom, to give him his first name, is also a solo artist, and after also releasing eight EPs, ‘And You Were the Hunter’ is his second solo album. This album has a naked and stripped-down beauty, which is raw and soul-searching and makes you a better person for hearing it. It opens with ‘Bright Spark’ upon which, backed by an acoustic guitar, Tom's vocal is just heavenly. He has a sharp and observing eye for detail, and ‘Bright Spark’ comes across as both self-confessional and very human. It does sound like the whole of his band have added to the track, but this might just be due to multi-layering. ‘The Long Distance Runner’, like much of this album, is over six minutes long. It is once more self-confessional, and, almost holy in tone, the guitar-playing on it sounds like that of ‘Harvest’-era Neil Young. The second half of the track adds soft strings which rip out your heart. It is both stunning and absolutely life-affirming. ‘Provenance’ has a louder, chunkier sound, and like a more experimental Thom Yorke number is again very engaging. ‘Cellar Door’ is like a stripped back and acoustic the Doors, while ‘Haven’ – one of the shorter tracks at three minutes in length – has a loud Smashing Pumpkins drive. ‘And You Were the Hunter’, the title track, is very slowcore, and captures perfectly the feeling of feeling isolated. ‘Memorial Day’, another slowcore track, features beautiful instrumentation. ‘Aliana’ has a golden vocal and a sparkling acoustic guitar, both of which melt together beautifully, while ‘Hopeless’ is lonely, sad and melancholic ‘I Was the Last One’ is soft and mournful. ‘After the War Ends’, which is louder, has more of a Her Name is Calla/Radiohead sound. ‘Love Can Do All but Raise the Dead’, the last track, is acoustic, soul-searching, and featuring a sad violin of the stuff that can break hearts. A beautiful album!

Track Listing:-

1 Bright Spark
2 The Long Distance Runner
3 Provenance
4 Cellar Door
5 Haven
6 And You Were the Hunter
7 Memorial Day
8 Aliana
9 Hopeless
10 I Wasthe Last One
11 After the War Ends
12 Love Can Do All but Raise the Dead

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/tomelliotmorr
http://www.songkick.com/artists/469853
https://twitter.com/tom_calla
http://temorris.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/tom_calla/
http://temorris.tumblr.com/

Label Links:-

http://www.functionrecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/FunctionRecor
http://functionrecords.tumblr.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/functionr
http://functionrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://twitter.com/functionrecords