Naubinway – Adam Levy (reviewed by Thomas Haynes)

This is Adam Levy’s first solo album away from his band The Honey Dogs. For the most part, the album is a stripped back, folky affair with some subtle country elements. The songs are mid-tempo with Levy’s impressive finger picking style prominent and his soft vocals standing above the mix of acoustic guitars. However, this album is more than just folky guitars.

The stand out tracks for me are ‘Eucastrophe’ which features more production values than some of the other tracks, with its broken fairy tale-like ambient intro reminiscent of Sparklehorse and ‘Atoms never die’ features some nice ambient synthesisers (and what a brilliant lyric). ‘Potter’s Field’ is also a great track with a nice head bopping country beat.

The lyrics are complex and influenced by a very difficult time in Levy’s life: The loss of his son. His son’s striking macabra artwork is presented on the record sleeve and accompanying booklet. Knowledge of this event makes this album a very emotional listen. The album’s title is taken from the sombre closing song ‘Naubinway’. This album serves as a brilliant eulogy to Levy’s son and above all else his son’s artwork stands prouder than the music, which in this case, is the way it should be.