Martyn Joseph

Item: Whoever It Was That Brought Me Here Will Have to Take Me Home
Author: Steve Stockman

Whoever It Was That Brought Me Here Will Have to Take Me Home

(2003)

Reviewed by Steve Stockman

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Label Pipe RecordsThe Phantom TollboothDecember 2003

acoustic folk singer-songwriter

As a Welsh Methodist teetotaler (don't believe all that Liberal Backslider suggested!) Martyn Joseph would not understand the analogy that he is a fine wine getting better and better with age. While many songwriters do their best work early and see their art fade with maturity, Martyn Joseph is quite the reverse. A glance at his back catalogue will show a remarkable development in his craft and its content over a career now touching on twenty years. The eighties naïve rocker with all the answers has grown wise to the world as he has learned to treasure the questions and developed a songwriting gift that is quite astounding improving his ability to express his journey of life and faith with every record.

Musically, Martyn has been getting sparser and sparser. He travels the world alone or at most with his band -- Nicky Hopkins on piano! So to get the authenticity of his live act he hasn't used the curse of pro tools to patch the best lines from 45 takes. These are all one take, maybe not the first but one all the same; listen for the passion of his voice breaking in "Every Little Sign." There he has embellished them most joyously by Hopkins aforementioned piano, Harry Napier's cello, and Phil Beer's fiddle, a new addition which may just add the one last touch that sets "Whoever It Was" apart. The immediacy works and as he does his casual spoken introduction to the title track you find yourself looking up in case he is actually sitting on your settee.

It is a contemplative and reflective sound; gently chilled, and poetically rich but strong in the perceptive observations. On "This Being Woman" he brings hope to the aging woman smashing the cult of the perfect twenty year old figure and complexion to bring dignity and worship to those who are so much worthier. On "Walk Down the Mountain" he is searching the depth of our humanity for the courage to beat the odds. Throughout he hones the questions into the sparkliest treasure so that they can illuminate the dark with hope and waken us up to something beyond. These are tailed by "Love Is," a list of humanity's greatest joy and deepest pain and the title track which has a hunch that "twas grace hath brought me safe this far and grace will lead me home."

Only nine songs might leave you wanting more which may have been the intention. Whether intended or not Martyn Joseph has given us another meditation on realism, faith and hope of the most beautiful kind.