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Roy Brown: Golden Blue

In his liner notes Roy Brown tells the story of his journey with mental illness, and there's an intensity about these songs which needs to be embraced if you're gong to appreciate this album. Roy and his band are good musicians, and the songs are well crafted and arranged, with an '80s production feel - plenty of chiming keyboard motifs, reminiscent of INXS, richly layered guitars, and 16th beat drum patterns. Without being indulgently confessional, Roy manages to plumb the heart's depths and tease at the big questions on titles like Perhaps Heaven, Ghetto Of My Mind, Headstone In The Heart, My House Cries and Spirit Unseen. Roy has a warm, rich voice, and my only disappointment was that he tends to sing with Memphis vowels (think Elvis doing In The Ghetto) when his natural Kiwi tone, which comes through particularly later in the set, is really lovely, and more authentic. A sincere, worthy effort nonetheless.

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