Gavin Davenport - The Bone Orchard

The much anticipated second album from Sheffield-born ballad singer. The Bone Orchard continues the exploration narrative-led songs which began with his first album Brief Lives.This time, however, Gavin has approached the material with a focus on characterisation, toying with the viewpoints and emotions of his subjects with plot secondary to the intrinsic humanity of the song. The cautionary tone of 'Farewell to Yorkshire', for example, is underpinned by the resigned resentment in Gavin's vocals, while the all-too-evident mournful sorrow delivered in 'Jim Jones in Botany Bay' has the listener pleading for a pardon with him.With its percussive washes and anticipatory strings, the album opener, 'Whitby Lad', establishes a cinematic feel which continues throughout the album. Aural ambience helps build the set in which Gavin's characters grow, so that the protagonist in 'Fair Rosamund' is tormented by hallucinatory whispers and hysterical harmonics, while the original title track is besieged by the voices of past and present in a nightmarish chatter. Guest contributors:Jim Causley � vocalsTom Kitching, Pilgrims Way � fiddleTim Yates, The Albion Band � bassJim Molyneux, 4Square, The Old Dance School � percussion Nick Cooke, Jim Moray, Mawkin � melodeonMartin Keates, The Hurricane Party � hurdy gurdy