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ONE WAY Recommends [Issue
#20] Teddy Thompson By
Ken Micallef
Separate Ways
(CD
Verve Forecast)
Though he has been
criticized for not yet living up to his famous father’s back catalog (Richard
Thompson was a founding member of Fairport Convention) nor for being as nasty
as some would like in these days of mass nastiness, Teddy Thompson is a songwriter
many can love. The songs on Teddy’s second album move in a slow waltz serenity
of Virginia reel instrumentation, cooing cellos, brushed drums, and strummed guitars
supporting songs of longing, introspection, and bitterness. While it may sound
like “polite adult pop with lap guitar and banjo” to Rolling Stone’s
Barry Walters, Separate Ways will sell boatloads to fans of Dido, Norah Jones,
and yes, even Crowded House. That may be a sin to the intelligentsia, but for
lovers of song craft it’s a blessing. Thompson is awfully sad for a talented
young buck, and his sorrow is contagious. He sings in a smooth, rustic tenor,
putting on “a happy face while I cry on the inside” (“Altered State”).
The slow burn of “I Should Get Up” recalls the simmer of Dire Straits,
“Everybody Move It” sounds like our protagonist finally cutting loose,
the rocking “That’s Enough Out Of You” describes a cynical misogynist.
A frustrated lad for sure, Teddy Thompson’s dark matter is at times purely
marvelous.
Though he has been
criticized for not yet living up to his famous father’s back catalog (Richard
Thompson was a founding member of Fairport Convention) nor for being as nasty
as some would like in these days of mass nastiness, Teddy Thompson is a songwriter
many can love. The songs on Teddy’s second album move in a slow waltz serenity
of Virginia reel instrumentation, cooing cellos, brushed drums, and strummed guitars
supporting songs of longing, introspection, and bitterness. While it may sound
like “polite adult pop with lap guitar and banjo” to Rolling Stone’s
Barry Walters, Separate Ways will sell boatloads to fans of Dido, Norah Jones,
and yes, even Crowded House. That may be a sin to the intelligentsia, but for
lovers of song craft it’s a blessing. Thompson is awfully sad for a talented
young buck, and his sorrow is contagious. He sings in a smooth, rustic tenor,
putting on “a happy face while I cry on the inside” (“Altered State”).
The slow burn of “I Should Get Up” recalls the simmer of Dire Straits,
“Everybody Move It” sounds like our protagonist finally cutting loose,
the rocking “That’s Enough Out Of You” describes a cynical misogynist.
A frustrated lad for sure, Teddy Thompson’s dark matter is at times purely
marvelous.
