Nico Hedley lives in Queens, NYC, USA. Painterly is his first album, recorded at Spaceman Sound in Brooklyn, landing in the racks of brick-and-mortar stores and available through online sales channels September 3 courtesy of Whatever’s Clever. The album, which can be purchased in standard black or smoky clear and black vinyl editions (plus digital), showcases Hedley’s abilities as a singer-songwriter and guitarist at the nexus of alt-country and indie folk with a touch of slowcore in the mix. Cohesive with considerable reach and sharpened by skilled players (Hedley’s “family band”), it’s a striking debut.
In the PR for this record as written by Winston Cook-Wilson (a member of the band Office Culture who contributes Fender Rhodes to Painterly), it’s stated that the lead singing on the album was inspired by none other than George Jones, and furthermore, that Jones, a mainstay of honky-tonk C&W and then countrypolitan, is Hedley’s “Nashville North Star.”
It’s a detectable association, though I find it necessary to elaborate that the similarity didn’t jump out to me during my initial handful of spins, reinforcing that Jones was an inspiration rather than a model for imitation. This infers subtlety on Hedley’s part, but it’s probably more accurate to relate that the songwriter’s intentions for Painterly were broad and decidedly contemporary.
Succinctly, Painterly isn’t a throwback album. Opener “Tennessee” makes this abundantly clear, with Hedley’s meditative vocals and guitar mingling first with Adam Robinson’s tenor sax and then with Hamilton Belk’s pedal steel, Jeff Widner’s drums and even a brief flash of backing vocals (by either Alena Spanger or Drew Citron). After the song kicks into full gear, it feels like it concludes just as quickly (the whole thing is over in a tidy two and a half minutes).
Hedley’s country drawl in the cut does pair well with the pedal steel’s twang, but it’s the aura of the contemplative that intensifies the ties to indie folk. Also, the unhurried pace of the track, a tempo that Hedley favors throughout Painterly to positive effect, establishes the abovementioned similarity to slowcore. But the next track, “Waking Dream,” shifts a bit, reminding me of Aussie Michael Beach on his 2013 LP Golden Theft.
If I’ve focused on influences and resemblances so far, it’s really the differences that elevate Painterly, such as the band’s jazzy component, namely Carmen Rothwell on double bass and the influx of horns as Robinson also plays clarinet and flute. Additionally, the personal touches, foremost in Hedley’s lyrics (coming after a breakup) and how he’s perpetually in control on the album, even when, deeper into the sequence, the songs veer into wilder regions. But before we get there, “Something to Make” emerges, wafting a ’70s downtrodden pop singer-songwriter aroma with a sturdy undercurrent of jazziness.
Hedley has stated that he wasn’t fully plugged into the songwriter sensibility as Painterly began taking shape (he’s previously noted for adding value on bass to the records of Ben Seretan, Beverly, and Alpenglow), an observation of modesty perhaps but easy to believe, particularly as “Sounds So Familiar” luxuriates more in the pure sound of alt-country (rough guitars, rolling rhythms, twang, vocal harmony) than in making a songwriter’s statement.
This lack of premeditation broadens the album’s scope, even as “I Just Wanna Dance” throws a nearly seven-minute spotlight upon Hedley’s strengths in song building. For a long stretch, it’s a little like Vic Chesnutt in a mellow ’70s zone, but the trajectory gradually expands to a full-band framework, with the clarinet’s entrance signaling a larger influx of free-flowing horns.
The title track employs similar tactics in a much shorter span but is distinguished by Hedley at his most vocally tender along with bowed bass and a concluding crescendo that weds avant-jazz gush, minus horns but with soaring pedal steel, to rock clamor. It drops out abruptly, giving way to “The Tower” and its nods (conscious or not) toward Lambchop’s first album, specifically in how it expands the alt-country template with wiggling horn lines.
“It Gets Easy” tightens the alt-county focus, the song’s mood reflective at first (there are clear traces of Jones in Hedley’s singing throughout), and then, after an iris-in on some exceptionally weepy pedal steel (here a tad reminiscent of Lambchop’s second album) the song ignites for a rousing conclusion, with some fiery breath torrents from Robinson the icing on the cake.
It’s a standout that ushers in the album’s closer, with “Lioness” encompassing all of Painterly’s strengths in a smidge over three minutes: the instrumental verve, the diversity, the emotional weight, and the quality of the songs. Altogether, it’s a superb introduction to the work of Nico Hedley.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
