Eric Chenaux - Sloppy Ground
Both gentle beauty and faint banality are captured sweetly
When the tactile cardboard wad of a new Constellation release lands in one's lap, it is common practice - in this world otherwise full of stunning mediocrity - to sit up, cancel all appointments and get it on the CD player ASAP. The latest instalment in this series of Canadian exports is more conventional than their usual output. Chenaux is often reminiscent of a suitably well-medicated Will Oldham enjoying studio time with The Dirty Three. Yet the resultant lack of melancholy leaves the music sounding worryingly middle-aged and even invites comparisons with Ben Harper's more bland latter-day efforts. It even strays horribly close to albeit-accomplished Cornish folk-music at times, so be warned. The worthiness of this album ultimately boils down to whether or not you are willing to admit you have gotten to “that age” and can thus now appreciate both gentle beauty and faint banality as captured so sweetly on Sloppy Ground. (Chris Cusack)