Reviews
Artist:Nic Norton And Alice Morell Album: Killing Time
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 14+1
Website: https://www.nicnortonmusic.com/
The Norfolk duo of Nic Norton and Alice Morell, along with their friends in The Country Band, have released a second album, to follow up "Last Orders" in 2019. Like that album "Killing Time" combines the songwriting ability of Nic with the Alice's vocals to produce something really special. Nic, a journalist by training, has an ability to use words to their greatest effect and writes songs that can have you both laughing and crying at the same time. The cleverness of his writing is summed up perfectly in "Queen Eloise and The King of Comedy", set in a rather seedy bar probably somewhere in the provinces. Eloise is regular but we're not sure if she's looking for love or just a light. We're told "she should go far". The dénouement is that she "should go far...from Fat Micky's bar", before it's too late.
That is very typical of Nic's writing, looking at the underside of life and failed relationships that were never going to make it. Having said that, there's a lot of sympathy for the characters and a sense of dark humour that means the songs aren't depressing. Even "Lucia", based on the car crash life of 1920's dancer Lucia Joyce, has an understanding of what could have been and the dreamworld she inhabited later, where she's looked on with a certain amount of pity. Alice's wonderful voice makes the most of this song. She has that slightly smokey vocal and bell-clear singing that belongs in a nightclub, being full of empathy and emotion.
Then there are the songs that just...odd. "The Last Great American Dentist" is exactly what it suggests, a dentist to the stars with lots of name dropping, and his dental work even features in Time magazine. Of course, being a Nic Norton song it doesn't end well when he's sued by a B movie actor over a set of dentures that ended his career. This song also has probably the best chorus I've heard for a long time "Gargle, Rinse and Spit". Although Alice is the lead vocalist Nic can certainly sing, as he does on the rather beautiful "Lost In Song" which is probably a love song, about a musician who can't find a song for his love.
Joining Nic and Alice are The Country Band of Mollie Narayn-Barrow on fiddle and Robin Evans on banjo, with guest musicians including keyboard player Jennifer Austin and Marvin McFadden on flugelhorn. Together they do make a wonderfully rounded sound across a whole range of music from folk to blues to rock. There's even a touch of musical in "The Frog". As with "Last Orders" Nic shows that he's an exemplary writer who should be far better known than he is. Nic's often compared, rightly, to Jake Thackray but you can also add Victoria Wood into the mix for his ability to make something extraordinary from an ordinary life. His characters have a realism to them, although it can be the dark realism of Leonard Cohen.
The album is now released and available through Spotify, Amazon and Apple Music. I would recommend it for the quality of the writing and performing. It's an album you'll want to listen to and the more you listen to it the more you'll see in it.
Tony Birch
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Fatea Showcase Sessions
The Fatea Showcase Sessions are a series of downloads featuring acts that we've really enjoyed and think that more people should get the chance to hear.
Pirate is the current session and features 16 fantastic artists check out the website to find out more about them and download your copy
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