DAVID BOTTING – Heart Beat (Haven Records)

Heart BeatHeart Beat is the debut album from singer songwriter David Botting. Hard times in life can be the inspiration for many great songs, as David certainly knows. David has been playing guitar for as long as he can remember, but started writing songs while he became unwell with heart failure after a virus and was awaiting a heart transplant. He has documented his journey through a series of eleven songs, which acted as therapy during his treatment and kept him sane. Songwriter and producer Boo Hewerdine heard David perform, and wanted to collaborate on the album project. David wants to raise public awareness about organ donation and all the proceeds of the album will be donated to the Harefield Hospitals Charity.

The whole album is simply guitar and vocal and I really like the guitar playing. David’s influences are John Martyn and Kelly Joe Phelps. The feeling of the album is mellow and the arrangements are impeccable. It’s percussive and bluesy on some tracks and melodic in others with the sound of alternate tunings.

I particularly like the first track ‘Almenalp’, about a lovely place in Switzerland.
If I said there’s another world, another place above the clouds, would you come there and walk with me?
In sun blessed higher meadows high above the crowd, come there and walk with me.”
And track ten, ‘Camino De Le Luce’.
“We were lost and we were found on the camino, only ringing bells to guide us, only footsteps there beside us.”
Both songs are about real places but everybody has their own camino and place above the clouds so these songs have a universal appeal.

David’s voice is mellow with a breathy tone and a little bit gravely. For me the vocal feels a little bit sparse next to the guitar and I would have liked to hear some female backing vocals on it to bring out the lyrics a little more and balance the intricate guitar arrangements.

Gillian McCoy

Artist’s website: https://www.facebook.com/david.botting

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