Tobin Sprout: Empty Horses (Fire/Southbound/digital outlets)

 |   |  <1 min read

Tobin Sprout: Empty Horses (Fire/Southbound/digital outlets)

Photo-realist painter Tobin Sprout is perhaps best known for being a key member of Ohio's Guided by Voices alongside Robert Pollard but also ran a solo music career, especially after he left the band for more than a decade in the late Nineties and even when the group re-formed.

Now in his mid-60s, his weary voice suits his chosen idiom of lowkey, downbeat Americana and his painterly, observational eye is all over these 10 songs where a kind of emotional yearning for a lost past is married to lyrics about half-forgotten stories and characters from an older America.

Half-formed stories and ill-defined figures seem to emerge from a dreamy mist, there are allusions to soldiers gone (On Golden Rivers, Antietam named for the Civil War battlefield, the damaged character in the title track, the piano ballad No Shame about a young man advised to flee the battle) and the passage of time (The Man I Used to Know, Every Sweet Soul).

For All in my Sleep where electric guitar comes to the fore he eases towards a measured Neil Young. 

Tobin Sprout is one of those singer-songwriters who, by speaking quietly amidst the noise like Bill Fay, gains your attention.

This album is available through Southbound Records in Auckland (here) or can be heard on Spotify here.


Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

Popstrangers: Antipodes (Unspk)

Popstrangers: Antipodes (Unspk)

Because international writers can often take a more dispassionate view of New Zealand culture -- witness the difference between local and overseas reviews of The Hobbit; ours mostly loved it,... > Read more

Primus: Green Naugahyde (Prawn/Southbound)

Primus: Green Naugahyde (Prawn/Southbound)

After almost a decade with no new material it's a surprise to find California indie-rockers Primus (who did the original theme to South Park) still around. But on this typically edgy, odd... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

GUEST WRITER GEOFF HARRISON reflects on Keith Emerson and the Moog synthesiser revolution

GUEST WRITER GEOFF HARRISON reflects on Keith Emerson and the Moog synthesiser revolution

Keith Emerson's recent passing powerfully resonated with me – and not just the way he left in early‑March but, more reflectively -- on how that instrument he mastered and pioneered back... > Read more

THE BARGAIN BUY: Billy Holiday; Lady Day

THE BARGAIN BUY: Billy Holiday; Lady Day

Although we have previously drawn attention to the excellent and modestly priced record ($25) of Lady Sings the Blues as one of our Hi-Fi Vinyl selections, we can't help but point to this four CD... > Read more