Lewis Jack Inman is a musician from Leeds in the UK who recently released Far Away. It’s a complete DIY effort and contains ten songs. The songs are somewhere between folk and indie rock.
The album opens with “Far Away” which revolves around acoustic guitar, mandolin and bass. It’s a pretty straightforward song but on that note it's well written. The verse is melodic and catchy and the chorus finds Inman singing at a higher octave. I was impressed with the songwriting. Up next is “Say goodbye to the sun” which also demonstrates a good sense of songwriting. I started to really appreciate Inman’s voice at this point. It’s naturally aesthetically appealing. “Lovebite” might the highlight on the album. Iman adds drums to the mix on this song and it had this mellow and nostalgic indie pop feel to it. The vocals are again on the money. “When they call you to church” is a little darker, perhaps even a little gothic sounding while “Junkie” is a stripped song revolving around just the guitar and vocals. The sort of almost hopeless melancholy on “Junkie” continues with “For wherever you are.” “Breaking out” was a much needed form of levity and is very catchy. It provided some joyous moments and reminded me of The Beatles at points. “Boy & girl (you know)” is more lo-fi than a lot of the other songs. “Shrapnel face” has its moments while “Echoes” is a nostalgic closer. As a recording engineer I have some advice for Inman. He isn't capturing the body and nuance of the guitar. He may need to implement close mic-ing techniques to make sure he is capturing some of the warm frequencies between 150 - 300 hz. There is a lot of difference with the sonic imprints of the song. This is a case where if Inman wants to record and mix himself, handing the mixes over to a mastering engineer would make a significant difference. Overall, however, I thought he did a good job with the recordings. I thought the songs were all well written and he has the ability to pull off sad and happy songs and some of the moods in between. Recommended.
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