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It’s been 3 years since we’ve had an album from Alex Cornish (we had a little release in the Play Your Part EP back in 2013) but now he’s back with album no. 4, Beyond The Serenade
Opening track, Footnotes on the Page opens softly but as if progresses it builds to a crescendo before heading back down to close just as softly as it opened. Easy going verses and attention demanding choruses & bridges make up the DNA of First & Last. Everywhere I Go again seems to use building blocks, introducing each instrument on a new layer before reaching a crashing chorus and then going uphill from there (for some reason we're imaging a crazy car tour for a video...)
Work the Fields uses the first minute & a half as an instrumental, layering the instruments which, for us, conjures images of busy city life before Cornish's smooth vocals come in with piano, with a reminder of that busy feeling kept by the quick intermittent beat, before giving way to rising strings and a calmer, gentler feel of getting away from it all.
Something a bit calmer and sedate in the form of Downstream with a similar theme continuing in How I'm Meant To Be. A bit of sombreness creeps into the album in the form of I'll Never Learn. The Pine & The Birch brings a little rock to the proceedings and took us by a bit of a surprised when we first heard it on a well known streaming service but after that initial entrance, it's not too far from what we know of Alex's work. After that wake up call, things are taken down for a bit with Drives Me On.
We're not entirely sure if Cornish is channelling his inner Billy Joel with a piano driven track Again & Again that reminds us a little of Always A Woman & The Piano Man but this gives way to Give Me Time, a track similar in style to Everywhere I Go in terms of how it's built, from gentle to a demanding roar. Closing the album is Nothing In Return which a song of two half, the first with vocals while the second is an instrumental with some interesting sounds at the end of it.
For fans, there is a little bit of everything from Alex's past releases as well but at the same time, it feels as if he's experimenting without deviating from what he knows works. This would be the album that we'd recommend for anyone not familiar with Alex's previous releases...and it makes for a good show live too!
Rating: 4/5
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