The list of January Album and EP releases is starting to grow, with Highasakite and Pom Poko already on the list - the latter surprisingly popping up with an EP on the 28th. But I still have dozens of releases that I missed last year, and I will continue to (briefly) write about as many as possible before things get too hectic.
I have covered Bony Man previously, the Icelandic songwriter (GuĆ°laugur JĆ³n Ćrnason in āreal lifeā) made a pretty big impression when he appeared out of nowhere with the single entitled āUnforgivenā. His online profile always suggests that he comes from a family with deep musical roots, so Iām sure heās appeared in other projects - although not even Google has helped me establish what those might have been.
Anyway album āCinnamon Fieldsā was released in September and itās just completely timeless, with vocals just so damn good that like me youāll really wonder where heās been all this time. Opening with āHole in the Worldā, thereās a simplicity to start with, acoustic guitar and those vocals, with just a brief crescendo of strings to add emphasis where needed, before building to a pretty intense conclusion, where he throws the orchestral sink at the arrangements, āUnforgivenā as mentioned previously is an obvious highlight, still utterly gorgeous with a melody that really will get inside you.
āLetter to Lisaā has unusual melodies and some lovely subtle musical inflections that remind me of the much underrated (and missed) The Miserable Rich, whilst the beautiful melancholy vocals and instrumentals in āIf You Leaveā will seemingly carry you in the wind across the highest of mountains. It feels like a climactic point of the album, yet title track āCinnamon Fieldsā is understated in the opening stages but also builds to another level completely. However I also like tracks such as āYour Oarā, which are built again around the simplicity of acoustic guitar, and a reminder that as impressive as the arrangements are, live gigs with just Bony Man and guitar must be a really immersive experience.
Of course the musical planet has a lot of really good songwriters with outstanding vocals, and Bony Man isnāt necessarily doing anything wildly different. And itās true that not every track quite soars to the outstanding heights of āUnforgivenā, but thatās a song which is particularly special. However, considered in its entirety āCinnamon Fieldsā is simply an excellent release, mature and rich in instrumental textures, and always carried through by Ćrnasonās pure and persuasive vocals. Iām convinced that the momentum behind him will continue to grow, because thereās always room for an artist like this.