As the piano runs through this latest single from Ed Boxall, I was racking my tiny brain to think of what it reminded me of, and then I read his own admission that the propulsive, pounding power of those ivories was a not-quite-unintentional steal from one of his favourite bands, The Waterboys. And indeed, it does have that deliberately simplistic, two-fingered style that Mike Scott has often used as the platform for many of his songs.
Not that “The High Far Fields of Home” is simplistic, nor derivative of that incredible band (surprise surprise, I too am a massive fan), it is Ed Boxall doing what he does so well – a song built on gentle, indie-folk finesse and singer-songwriter smarts, spacious rhythms and compelling sonic adornments.
And as he tells his tale of someone caught in the throes of insomnia, the worries and woes of modern life denying them sleep, he flips the script, allowing them to find optimism and answers to tackle, or at least calm the slings and arrows of their fitful nighttime thoughts.
It’s a song from the folk tradition, yet brought sonically up to date. A sweet song and an excellent narrative, somehow both evocatively timeless and wonderfully timely.
The fact that I just read that his inspirations in the storytelling realm include CS Lewis and Mervyn Peake means I love this man even more than I did when I dropped the virtual needle on this digital platter! If ever I’m in Hastings, we’re grabbing a pint!
