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David Gray feels like yesterday
By Johanna Dean
Guest Writer
FILE PHOTO
David Grey rocks out to his own music from his current album "A New Day at Midnight".
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David Gray’s dynamic style ranges from his overtly passionate “A Century Ends” to the more technologically focused 1998 release “White Ladder.” It seems that with each new release, David Gray has continued to take innovative musical steps while maintaining his core lyrical and vocal strength. Gray’s latest release “A New Day at Midnight” however is somewhat of a disappointment in that regard.
Veteran listeners will recognize Gray’s familiar soothingly rhythmic vocals, but might be disappointed with his specific lack of musical innovation on this disc. Expecting his signature fusion of folk rock sprinkled with his own blend of pulsing electronic musings one will not be disappointed.
However, it seems that Gray did not stretch his musical framework for “Midnight” as much as we have come to expect. He does breach new ground on tracks such as “Freedom” adding a simple horn melody during the introduction and a sheet metal like pounding throughout the verses providing an eerie street-like atmosphere while singing “…we’re running/through a world that lost its meaning.”
His vocals on this disc however are lacking the youthful fire they once employed on songs such as “Gathering Dust” and the painfully hopeful “Shine” both from “A Century Ends.” While his vocal presentation might be lacking, the lyrics they deliver maintain their heritage of craft.
They continue to present life to us anew with a new spin of clarity and query, “sing to me the truth sweet bird of youth/I got some trouble trying to understand/beneath the veils of mystery/are these the movements of an unseen hand” (“Last Boat to America.”)
“A New Day at Midnight” is in fact a well-crafted release, attending to the musical, lyrical, and vocal aspects of each track. It will however leave the veteran David Gray fan wondering where in this new day David lost his innovative inspiration.
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