Say You’re With Me – Larkhall (reviewed by T. Bebedor)

Where do we start with Larkhall?

I’ve been pondering this for a little while because it’s a bit classical music, a bit soundtrack, there are some laid-back, end-of-the-evening vibes, and there are jazz influences (more on that later) but I suppose this all boils down to the simple explanation that the music of Larkhall – aka Charlie Williams – is piano-led instrumental music that has the knack of being intelligent and welcoming at the same time.

It doesn’t attempt to dumb down what it is, the layers of piano, electronic and occasional percussion and strings is what it is, it’s a creation of a soundscape that will either have you rushing to the nearest open fire with a whiskey in one hand and the plan of doing nothing, or will have you questioning the meaning of life. It’s that broad in it’s outlook, you can either chill out and relax or use it at a soundtrack to ponder and think.

It’s unobtrusive music that sits nicely between classical and ambient. Personally speaking – and this is me just being fussy – I would have liked more percussion, the latter parts of the album are stripped bare to a simple (and effective) piano, but these haunting pieces could have been lifted by some nicely composed support.

The stand out track (and this is where I’ll explain the jazz influence) for me is ‘Time of Flight’, it reminds me of the Manchester jazz trio ‘Go Go Penguin’ with a piano riff given licence to fly – see what I did there? – to bring a new flavour to the album.

There are some wonderful moments here and it acts as a reminder that in music rarely is anything more effective at evoking emotion than a piano played beautifully.