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Writer's pictureAndy Wors

Bony Man šŸ‡®šŸ‡ø - ā€˜Cinnamon Fieldsā€™ (album)


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 Ɓrnason in ā€˜real lifeā€™) made a pretty big impression when he appeared out of nowhere with the single entitled ā€˜Unforgivenā€™. His online profile always suggests that he comes from a family with deep musical roots, so Iā€™m sure heā€™s appeared in other projects - although not even Google has helped me establish what those might have been.


Anyway album ā€˜Cinnamon Fieldsā€™ was released in September and itā€™s just completely timeless, with vocals just so damn good that like me youā€˜ll really wonder where heā€™s been all this time. Opening with ā€˜Hole in the Worldā€™, thereā€™s 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, ā€˜Unforgivenā€™ as mentioned previously is an obvious highlight, still utterly gorgeous with a melody that really will get inside you.


ā€˜Letter 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 ā€˜If 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 ā€˜Cinnamon Fieldsā€™ is understated in the opening stages but also builds to another level completely. However I also like tracks such as ā€˜Your 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 isnā€™t necessarily doing anything wildly different. And itā€™s true that not every track quite soars to the outstanding heights of ā€˜Unforgivenā€™, but thatā€™s a song which is particularly special. However, considered in its entirety ā€™Cinnamon Fieldsā€™ is simply an excellent release, mature and rich in instrumental textures, and always carried through by Ɓrnasonā€˜s pure and persuasive vocals. Iā€™m convinced that the momentum behind him will continue to grow, because thereā€™s always room for an artist like this.


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