If you are one of those people who likes to say things like “it’s good man, but I struggle with his voice,” when you hear someone like Kevin Driscoll’s, I will just counter your point by saying this – Dylan, Waits, Cohen, Cave. If you have grown up on TV talent shows and over-polished pap, then you can’t really blame anyone else when you fail to recognise a voice and a vocal that exude character, personality, originality, and integrity. If, however, you are the sort whose ear pricks up when hearing such music, then I’m writing this for you.
“Put It Behind Me” is a gorgeously understated song, one powered by deft finger-picked acoustica, washed string motifs, and a delicate, resonant voice, all doing only as much as they need, and no more.
It’s a song that is full of heart and indeed heartache, a realisation that even if it is you who makes a difficult decision, that doesn’t mean that it is always easy to move on. from it. And such a weighty subject matter benefits from such a worldly voice; it adds the necessary gritty grace and grounded gravitas, it sounds like the voice of experience, especially when that experience has been hard won.
There is a timelessness to the song, reminding us of the likes of Joni Mitchell (not vocally, but perhaps instrumentally), the aforementioned Cohen (tonally), and even Dan Fogelberg (hey, replay “Leader of the Band” if you don’t get the connection). Timeless because not only would you be hard pushed to find a comparable artist in today’s scene, but also because the sentiments and ideas, the reflections and realisations that flow through this song have been part of the human condition since there has been a human condition!
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