Paupers Field. Dylan LeBlanc

A review on the basis of two wrong assumptions: the first being that I thought to have found this album on Noisetrade.com, the second that this was a fairly new album. Both not true, but as most was written, let me publish it anyway, as this is a good album, as I saved it for a too busy day.

Country time, but of the kind that mostly sits well with me. Dylan LeBlanc has a new album out I found out today (which was 19/2/2016) called 'Cautionary Tale', but I had already started a review of Paupers Field as a return favor for the music. Paupers Field is LeBlanc's first album, but he sounds like it could have been his 20th. And this is not to be read in a negative way. Dylan LeBlanc manages to place his debut album in a long line of country and singer-songwriter oriented music in a successful way. It was released in 2010, followed by 2012's 'Cast The Same Old Shadow', of which the Guardian in it's review called the songs "as beautiful as they are bleak" and the album "eerie rather than unsettling" (thank you Wikipedia).

The songs on Paupers Field do not exactly radiate loads of light either. The atmosphere is subdued, the glass at a minimum half empty. Whether it's full or not, LeBlanc hits silver. At a minimum. And not just because he managed to have Emmylou Harris sing harmony in 'If The Creek Don't Rise'. The Eagles around the 'Desperado' album is all over this album. The recording budget is obviously a lot lower, but the spirit of Bernie Leadon is there. 'Tuesday Night Rain' could have been a song there without looking strange in any way.

On Paupers Field Dylan LeBlanc impresses without being impressive. He lets his voice and songs do the work for him. That voice seems a little bit worse for wear and tear for someone who at the time was only 20. It has a rasp that usually comes with age. The songs are all of a "simple" structure, the one Dan Goodman in his role in the brothers Coen movie Inside Llewyn Davies stabs so hard at, the same one that can create pure magic in tis simplicity. An acoustic guitar, bass, drums and a pedal steel is the basis of most songs. Add a banjo and you're there. With this Dylan LeBlanc creates his own modest magic. There's no excitement, no thrills nor frills. It's about the music.

It impressed me and that is what I wanted to let you know. Up next is the new album. Should I like it you'll find out soon, I promise.

Wo.

You can listen to 'If Time Was For Waisting' here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM6woecH5EA

or buy on Bol.Com