Tom McRae
Monday, January 31st, 2005 by Paul Irishacoustic rock // singer-songwriter
Brit Tom McRae has a way with music. Critics lauded his 2001 self-titled release and it earned him a Mercury prize nomination. Many suggest comparisions to Nick Drake and early Dylan aren’t such a stretch. It’s his warm and homey while intimately gloomy mood that creates such a stir. His blisteringly bare vocals create a vocal line that slowly wraps around you like a smile. His quiet guitar strumming provides the pillow for your wondering head to crash down on.It’s the soundtrack to your 3am drive away from that girl you can’t not like.
This song isn’t about Faultline. It’s not about how as a child he blew out his left lung while playing clarinet in orchestra. No. What distinguishes this song from the rest of the tracks on Faultline’s recently re-released album is the melancholy voice of Coldplay’s Chris Martin. It’s bare, fragile, and leaking wistful emotion at the sides. This should have been the hidden track on Rush of Blood to the Head.
We all have our favorite untitled track from Sigur Rós’s epic 2002 record ( ). We have no idea what those words are, but they’re so entirely soothing; the emotion wrought out by that voice matches the soft, glowing and powerful ethereal sounds of the band. “Ba Ba” was part of an experiment called 
How many dazzling songs do you know that feature a harpsichord? “Golden Brown” throws one right at you and carries it in a waltzing 3/4 time signature. Well known from the 
I don’t know what can convey how simple and lovely this song is better than the lyrics, so: My, my you’re just like pie, when I call you on the phone. You say hello and that’s the crust, the filling is yet to come. My, my you’re just like eggs. You’re all slimy on the outside and yolky in the middle. Wait a second”¦ that’s not right; what I really meant is that I love you in the morning. Oh, I love you in the morning.