This release is an essential purchase for any serious collector who values both insightful writing and melody laden song arrangements.
The creative talent on display across this impressive 17 song collection, both challenges and enthrals with songs of self- reflection, love lost, disillusionment, broken dreams, sympathy and understanding. Throw in some broken relationships, the vagaries of life, fate, circumstance; some blue skies, optimism and hedonism, plus much more in between.
Peter Bruntnell has been producing quality music for many years now and while never breaking through to commercial success, his reputation within the music industry is firmly established as a recognised and respected talent. The old ‘writer’s writer’ reputation does not pay the bills alas and I have often wondered why this exceptional talent has never seen his vignettes of real life picked up for film soundtracks – he is eminently qualified on all fronts.
We are treated to a beautiful vocal delivery, both fragile and sweet, on top of hooks and harmonies that compel you to stop and listen. The song arrangements, taken from eight separate releases & spanning sixteen years,, drive everything with a talent that echoes balance, experience, maturity, perspective and a wistful knowledge of the fragility in relationships between people.
Witness 25 Reasons and the lonely imagery of ‘There’s a deepening low, coming for me off the coast’. He also has the distinction of fitting in a refrain for the Canadian province of Saskatchewan in Shot from a spring, a song that unfolds with a lovely, languid arrangement and sweeping melody.
Peter Bruntnell has had a close connection with writing partner Bill Ritchie for some time and their song lyrics can be interpreted on different levels. Handful of Stars is a song about understanding the value of friendship and reaching out to a friend in need ‘Even if I gave you a handful of stars, you would still be here, deep at the bar’.
The yearning of I Want You visits a sense of isolation in matters of the heart while Here come the swells touches on the greed of developers and local politicians to turn a buck at every opportunity,
The gorgeous Played Out, featuring Rumer on vocals, ends the selection with a wistful look back in time at a previous relationship. With beautiful lines like ‘Always say that you are better for things that you go through; but I still have nothing to show for you’ showcasing the craft of song-writing in such subtle and worldly terms.
‘When you can’t tell that you are the key in the lock of an open door, you just need someone to walk through for’ – beautiful..! Peter Bruntnell has had his key in the lock for many years and I for one look forward to his eventual acceptance into the spotlight of premier song-writers. The best release of 2013 for me by some distance