Having previously received praise from the likes of BBC 6Music’s Tom Robinson and supported acclaimed artists such as Willy Mason and This Is The Kit, Cardiff artist Ivan Moult returns to grace our ears with sophomore album Longest Shadow.
A confessional collection, charting the blissful beginnings of a romance to the embittered break up, Longest Shadow is filled with one captivating offering after another. From the sweeping raw emotion and shimmering folk-inspired strings of album opener ‘Keep Cautious’, to the syncopated, almost jazz-like funk of ‘Speaking In Tongues’, it showcases Moult at his most vulnerable.
As the stirring folk-strewn finger-picked melodies and impassioned vocals of the likes of ‘Longest Shadow’ and ‘Carried Over Water’ ooze a blissful romanticism and endearing fragility, it’s impossible not to get lost in the soaring, beautiful melancholy of ‘Any Other Name’ and luscious vocal harmonies and soothing charm of ‘Easily Gone’. Each track flows with its own distinct, totally dreamy, heartstring-tugging raw passion.
Fusing together the twinkling grace of Damien Rice with the rich, cinematic musicality of Nick Drake, Longest Shadow lays all emotions bare with a refreshing honesty. There isn’t a moment on this album where you won’t be left utterly spellbound by Moult’s impassioned natural vibrato and heartbreakingly exquisite tales of falling in and out of love.
Longest Shadow is out now via Bubblewrap Collective.