Piper's Son - The Roar from Behind

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 25 / 1 / 2014

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Review

The debut album from Piper’s Son, the London based band fronted by Thom Driver, which features new versions of a few songs that have already appeared, albeit in a rawer form, on a brace of self-released EPs, is something of an eye-opener. It’s rare to come across a new album that, while not breaking any new ground in an earth-shattering way, is so unlike anything else around that you just have to dedicate your time to it. The music that Diver creates with Victor Bock (bass), Rick Carbone (electronics), Jared Fisher (drums) and Peter Harris (guitar and pedal steel) is classy, thoughtful pop music injected with so many quirky twists and turns it’s almost impossible not to like. Driver, who wrote all of the eleven songs on ‘The Roar from Behind’ must have an active mind. Ideas are spilling out of every song, and some tracks sound like they are built from separate segments of music that Piper has then assembled to make a complete song. It would appear, that rather than seeing a song through from start to finish with a fixed goal in mind, Driver records snippets of whatever is running through his head at a certain time and then, at some later point, magically transforms these ideas into a cohesive song. If that is the case and Driver did use scraps of unrelated music and ideas to create the songs on ‘The Roar from Behind’, then we can only hope that he carries on using this process. In other hands the songs on ‘The Roar from Behind’ could have turned into an unlistenable mess. They could have wandered from one idea to another without actually developing into an actual song, but, despite ideas seemingly constantly spilling out of Driver’s mind, the guitarist/singer has the talent to pull it all together to create not only music that is fascinating and different but that is also instantly appealing. The sounds that Driver creates certainly cannot be easily explained; it’s not even that he straddles various already established genres; the music that Driver makes under the Piper’s Son name really is quite unique. Even though every song is brimming over with ideas and sounds, it all hangs together beautifully. Driver’s vocals are smooth and welcoming. While not idiosyncratic in any way, there is a certain Englishness to his delivery that makes for an easy entry into the songs. With all that is going on musically within each song Driver's vocals need to be inviting. The actual music has the full quota of quirkiness. If Driver’s vocals were overly distinctive in any way, it would diminish the effect of the songs. As it is, the balance is perfect. What is probably most amazing thing about ‘The Roar from Behind’ is the way the whole album gently flows from one song to another. Given that many of the songs, as mentioned above, sound like they are created from various pieces of music Driver had amassed over some time, the whole album still demands to be listened to in one sitting to be fully appreciated. Driver never repeats the same song twice, and the diversity shown over the forty plus minutes is staggering. The lengthy instrumental passage that follows the thunder and rain sound effects which opens ‘Fingers from the Future’ draws up images from children’s sci-fi tv programs. albeit with a darker edge and sprinklings of Sparky’s Magic Piano thrown in for good measure. The irresistibly catchy ‘Bad Boomerang’ that follows benefits from added steel drums and brass, another unexpected diversion taken by Driver and company. ‘The Roar From Behind’ is thoughtful, intelligent, adult pop music, carefully constructed which for all its quirkiness sounds like it comes from the heart. It’s pop music but not as we know it. It will be interesting to hear where Driver goes from here; he’s set the bar pretty high.

Track Listing:-

1 Mining
2 City Ghosts
3 Hollows
4 By The Hand
5 Please Don't Go Backwards
6 Fuel
7 Autoconversation
8 Fingers From The Future
9 Bad Boomerang
10 Doctor At The Door
11 Hiding In The Cinema

Band Links:-

https://pipersson.bandcamp.com/
https://twitter.com/piperssonmusic
https://www.facebook.com/piperssonmusi

Label Links:-

http://www.vacilando68.org/
https://www.facebook.com/Vacilando68