DOMENIC DeCICCO – Seeds Of Evergreen (Twin Arrows Music)

Seeds Of EvergreenI wasn’t in the best frame of mind when I sat down to listen to this album but the first notes cheered me up. No particular reason, they just did and that’s something that doesn’t happen too often. Domenic DeCicco is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist – a serious multi-instrumentalist, may I add – from Somerset and Seeds Of Evergreen is his third solo album.

It’s impossible to pin down Domenic to any one category. He has a chameleon voice, sometimes rough and husky, sometimes sweet and clear. There are fleeting glimpses of Dylan and Paul Simon in his delivery but I think his own voice is the one he uses on ‘Dreamer’; strong and true, capable of passion and drama as well as gentleness. In many ways this is a big album: fifteen tracks, many quite lengthy, including two instrumentals, the second, ‘Sisters’, being a haunting flute piece. Although Domenic plays most of the music he has support from Chris Hurn on cello, Robin Rhind on Hammond organ and Paul Sax on violin, plus other guests on individual tracks.

The songs are about just about anything. The opener, which perked me up you’ll remember, is ‘Big Sky’, a gentle philosophical piece with Domenic’s guitar to the fore as is ‘All In A Life’ but here’s the cello. The title track gets a little grittier as Dom’s voice is firmer but like all his songs it is blessed with a strong melody and words that demand your attention. The programming of the album is excellent too, from quiet to quiet with plenty of up-tempo in the middle and I do think that the overall pace and feel of a record is often given insufficient thought.

So, thanks for this, Domenic. I would have hated to miss it.

Dai Jeffries

Artist’s website: www.twinarrowsmusic.com