Stronger in Numbers – Chris Tye (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Playing a note on a guitar or singing a lyrical line is a fairly straightforward job. These days it seems as if you could blindly throw a stone and not fail to hit some over-entitled, gap-year troubadour treating us to his accumulated life experience since leaving home six months previous. Thankfully people like Chris Tye understand that it is all about getting just the right note, the most effective chord, the resonant lyric, anything else is just getting in the way.

His core sound is wonderfully sparse and even when he ups the musical stakes, such as with Love on The Line, the drama is as much a result of the space between the musical punches as the impact as they land. Obviously Chris is following in a long line of classic songwriters from Neil Young to John Martyn but of course they are regarded as classic for a reason and if the familiar template here is justified, what he brings to the table moves it into interesting new areas.

There is a resonance with Damien Rice’s drifting approach found in many of the songs, particularly the title track and sweeping grandeur of No Sing but he is also able to move in more ambient pop directions such as with Low on Time. Fans of the singer-songwriter style will find a lot to like in his self-described Urban Folk Music; the combination of iconic songs styles and his own creative and emotive agenda will find new fans heading his way in droves.