iaintill.co.uk
'Oh, Sweetheart of Mine'
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This a collection of spacious and poignant country/folk songs, with sublime harmonies, Chris Hillman's pedal steel and Steph Kearley's beautiful string arrangements.
Recorded and produced at Spirit Studios in Manchester, by Greg Chiche, and mastered by Pobaudio, the songs contained here are understated, stripped back affairs, intimate, composed and beautiful.
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Till’s past work has reached a wide audience, with his composition, ‘In The Clouds’ getting airplay on BBC6 Music. The band’s live schedule saw them supporting Besnard Lakes, John Head, Herman Dune, Gordon Gano, We Are Augustines and Y-Niwl. |
With live solo dates being scheduled for 2014, and a new band being assembled, this release could represent the start of an exciting new chapter for Iain Till.
Alan O'Hare for Liverpool Acoustic - 'The Rise and the Fall' EP Review - Dec 2014
To make music this sparse stand out from the crowd, the singer has to be able to whisper something into your ear. Fortunately for Iain Till, his voice is sublime.
The songwriter (and The City Walls’ bass player) specialises in intimate recordings and performances and latest EP ‘The Rise And Fall’ is no different. Opening with the intricate finger-picking and hushed vocals of ‘Haunted By You’, the record sets its stall out early: classicism.
If you’re a sucker for new melodies being wrung out of well-worn chord sequences, then this is for you. The acoustic guitars sound great, strings and organs rise and fall (see what we did there?!) and the mood stays consistent throughout. This is a tone poem that doesn’t let up.
But, as a four track EP, that’s the point and the songs hit the spot. Tunes like ‘A Step Away’ and ‘Something’ are lovely and bring Gene Clark and his ‘lost’ classic ‘No Other’ to mind. Sure, there’s hints of Americana, and Till’s roots run deep into the heart of the country, but ‘The Rise And Fall’ reveals itself as folk music and can take its place at that table with some of the best this year has had to offer.
Lovely.
http://liverpoolacoustic.co.uk/2014/12/ep-review-iain-till-rise-fall/
Americana UK - EP Review, Feb 2014
'A fine foray into mellow intimacy'
Iain Till’s debut recording is a highly intimate affair. A mere five songs in length, ‘Oh, Sweetheart Of Mine’ provides a stripped back twenty-minute taster of what this Liverpudlian singer/songwriter can do. And even in this short time it’s clear that this is a musician who can certainly craft a fine folk tune.
The sparse nature of Till’s EP gives it a very mellow feel. This is folk country music at its most intimate where each of the five tracks is cut back to its bare bones, starting out with only a single acoustic guitar and Till’s pleasant vocals.
As each track proceeds, more instrumentation and harmonies are subtlety added providing a much-needed warmth to the piece. ‘Song for Lennie’ has a sumptuous string section which gives a real richness, while the title track echoes with wonderful pedal steel adding a distinctive country leaning. Whether it is vocals or strings, each addition brews gloriously along in the background and provides a wonderful boost to Till’s work.
In some cases, such an approach could have left a record sounding overly stark and a little dull, but the quality of Iain Till’s songwriting ensures that this is not the case. Indeed, with tracks as enjoyable as these, the listener is certainly left hoping that this Liverpudlian will provide us with a much longer example of his work. 7/10
Tim Stokes, Americana-uk
http://www.americana-uk.com/cd-reviews/item/iain-till-oh-sweetheart-of-mine
Liverpool Sound and Vision - EP Review - 18/12/14
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
There is always a time to de-clutter, to take away the excess, the pomp and circumstance and just go back to a stripped back version of everything, to listen to a set of songs that just play along with the idea of simplicity and high value.
To listen to Iain Till’s E.P Oh, Sweetheart of Mine is to take that feeling of the stripped back, to speak of a truth that sometimes gets lost in the mayhem of modern 21st Century living and to feel part of a connected world once more. Yet in between the gentleness of guitar, the calmness of a cello and subtlety of strings, played with an ease and sense of love by Stephanie Kearley and the unlikely additions that blend so well throughout of a pedal steel and accordion, there is a set of lyrics that deals with one man’s thoughts of darkness and the counterbalance of light and how it prays on the mind and a sense of longing.
It is these moments of absolute integrity that captures the listener and the combination of cello, accordion, guitar and unshakeable steel show what can be done when there is no rift battling away at a lyricist’s soul, just a sense of purity and serenity, the tranquillity of finding yourself lost on the moors and sitting down to find the road again but realising that sometimes the road is just not the place to be.
The songs, the title track, Song For Lennie, Fade To Black, Come The Morning and Cold Town, Morning Rain, all offer a way of leaving the road well-travelled, the ever greater pot holes designed for you stumble and breakdown and instead find a certain peace and feel once more the Earth beneath your feet.
Oh, Sweetheart of Mine is one of those set of songs that you find yourself putting on with the idea of finding time once more is on your side. A set of songs so enjoyable and lovely that you might find yourself taking a diversion off the road just for the sheer hell of it!
Ian D. Hall
http://www.liverpoolsoundandvision.co.uk/2013/12/18/iain-till-oh-sweetheart-of-mine-e-p-review/
Live Review - The Brink, Parr Street. 9/1/14.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The New Year is a week old and whilst many are feeling their way back into the way of 2014, the first stirrings of music can be heard through the alleyways and shelters from the inclement weather. If 2013 was a huge year for music in Liverpool, new artists and groups offering new blood to the sage, wise and considered, many brilliant bands from outside of the area and beyond making their way in some sort of momentous pilgrimage to the natural home of popular music and declaring that love with many hands on heart, then 2014 should be even better.
One of the new musicians to make his way to Liverpool in the past couple of years is Iain Till, the release of his rather magnificent E.P. Oh Sweetheart of Mine, bought him to the attention of the locals and fresh from attending Ian Prowse’s Monday Night Club, he and his guitar made their way to Brink on Parr Street.
The E.P. is a wonder, a blissful way to wallow and endlessly press repeat on your machine of musical fancy but catching somebody raw, musically exposed, especially so soon in the start of a New Year, is quite thrilling. Even when everything is against them, from having to perform alone due to unfortunate and tragic circumstances and trying a new set of strings out, the sound that Iain Till produced was exquisite. A joy to make your way out of a warm house or even warmer office and sit and drink in the notes that pour with honest abandon from a rich guitar and beautiful voice.
The Brink may not be the most natural home for music but what it provides is decent and authentic, it provides the touch of home in which you know people are listening, even if the sound of a freshly brewed cup of tea is being noisily stirred with ever-increasing vigour. Against this Iain Till performed several tracks to the distributed crowd and was very well received. With songs such as the title track to the E.P., the brilliance of Song For Lenny, the beauty of Fade To Black and the wonderful gamble of a new song thrown in for good measure, so new it doesn’t have a name as yet, this was a night in which to relax and let a musician take you away from the hectic aftermath of Christmas for a while.
The E.P. really is that good; catching Iain Till live is even bigger pleasure.
Ian D. Hall
Oh, Sweetheart of Mine.
5 track EP.
Out now
Available as download or CD from
"A fine foray into mellow intimacy."
Tim Stokes, Americana-uk.com
'Oh, Sweetheart of Mine' is the debut solo release from Singer / Songwriter / bassist Iain Till.
This is a collection of spacious and poignant country/folk songs, with sublime harmonies, Chris Hillman's pedal steel and Steph Kearley's beautiful string arrangements.
Recorded and produced at Spirit Studios in Manchester, by Greg Chiche, and mastered by Pobaudio, the songs contained here are understated, stripped back affairs, intimate, composed and beautiful.
With live solo dates being scheduled for 2014 this release could represent the start of an exciting new chapter for Iain Till.
