With a steely yet gentle voice that at times reminds me of Johnny Cash or Leonard Cohen, Garry Forrester‘s neatly constructed songs and dulcet tones will lull you along his album’s entirety. His lyrics have an aged air, the word choices interesting without being corny or melodramatic. Stories range over a lot of topics and he uses nice rhyme schemes that don’t follow his finger patterns.

Koori Man is a hard-hitting ballad about the story of racism in America. It is a very good song. His rhyme and rhythm provides plenty to listen to in an uncomplicated way, the choice of chords, and the mixture of major and minor shapes come together beautifully without being something heard before – despite this being folk music. Choruses build nicely and verses flow down like rivers. The whole album is almost solely performed by Forrester and his guitar, with only small additions of banjo and mandolin. Engineer Thomas Lambert did a great job of capturing the guitar’s dynamic and when other instruments do come in they are not invasive. A lovely, surprisingly complex album well worth a listen.