IF Joseph Arthur's last album, Come To Where I'm From, was a work of echoing hugeness, with swooning, pain-wracked lyrics, sawing cellos and bursts of grunge, Redemption's Son refines this approach and is even better.
Arthur makes an art out of vulnerability and the fragile nature of this album generates its power, letting you see into his sometimes troubled soul.
The music has a haunted, other quality, with suggestions of anyone from Kurt Cobain to Hendrix or a more tuneful Tom Waits (if such a creature were possible).
The opening title track rings with dislocation and loss, while songs such as Honey And The Moon and Favorite Girl are beautiful snatches of lyrcism.
This is an album delivered in layers, with dreamy folk-like songs lying beneath occasional, fizzing bursts of antagonistic noise.
Even at some 75 minutes, Redemption's Son never outstays its welcome, displaying instead an inventive spirit and the shining craft of a singer-songwriter who knows what he is about.
Updated: 09:50 Thursday, June 27, 2002
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