Rusty Bear - Source to Sea review
Source to Sea is the debut album from Matthew Sturgess, a man who relocated from a quiet seaside town in Yorkshire to the metropolis of London, and found himself inspired to write songs about the change. The resulting record is a sprawling, fantastic forty-five minutes of undeniable accomplishment and beauty, a record that truly deserves attention and repeated listening.
Firstly, a little about how the album came about. Rusty Bear has been Sturgess' song-writing moniker for a while, and was taken from the name of a beer (Rusty Biere). The tracks themselves were initially crafted by Sturgess over a period of several years, before beginning to be recorded on a four-track and microphone borrowed from a colleague, and played on a collection of guitars acquired from car boot sales, antiques shops and the like. The budget for these recordings and those of this album is so miniscule it's impressive. Once the songs had taken their basic form, Sturgess was joined by his collaborators (who also deserve considerable praise) and Rusty Bear came into full force. In 2009, the group entered the studio to begin crafting what would later become Source to Sea. Oh yeah, by 'studio', I literally mean a garden shed and outside toilet. The space inside was so small that some members had to be outside whilst they were playing. However, the album was not entirely recorded there, as later on other locations were used, including (rather appropriately) a church. Before we even get to the music, this album and the people who recorded it are a testament to what can be done even with such limited resources, and it sounds all the more authentic for it.
The music itself is hard to classify generally, purely because the album tries so many different things. The closest I could get may be folk, but at times the album uses electric guitars and it gets surprisingly heavy, just as it's lulled you into a false sense of security. Plus, there are so many instruments and the tracks are so intricate, it almost has a kitchen sink feel to it, but never sounds overwhelming. Incidentally, here are a few instruments used on the album (aside from the standard guitars and percussion): banjo, double bass, accordion, mouth harp, dulcimer, church organ, mandolin, ukulele and electric bass. There may be more. But back to the point in hand: every track on this album has merits: there is not a bad track here. Granted, there are a couple that I can drift in and out of, but for the most part, Source to Sea captivates and holds you in its brilliant grasp.
The opening track, Source to Sea is a gently building, easy to like, slow opener that is accessible and accomplished. The vocals are harmonious (and are so throughout the album) and reminiscent of Bon Iver, but on certain tracks such as Closer to God, they become literally Beatles-esque. Source to Sea is an album that lures you in with its peaceful, sweet, wistful accessibility and it's beautiful harmonies, but on closer inspection, this is only superficial, and what is gradually revealed to the patient listener is a much darker, brooding sentiment. By the second track, the electric guitar has become surprisingly heavy, almost out of nowhere, but it soon settles down again, before returning to 'normality' for a while. A lot of the music on the album is quite similar, but it's in the subtle differences and the things you don't notice on the surface that make this album such a rewarding listen. However, if I had a gun to my head, I would say my favourite track here was If She, because it's the simplest track here, revealing the bare bones of the outfit, showing a little, just a little, vulnerability. The lyrics and music here are simply beautiful, restrained and clever, almost twee, and I imagine would be incredibly hard not to like.
In short, this is an album very much deserving of anyone's attention, and even if on first listen it doesn't impress you that much, listen again, because every time you do you will hear something you didn't before. It may be in the music, for instance how the mandolin slowly creeps up on you in the opening track, or it may be a lyric you didn't catch before (I was particularly caught off guard by 'Your father didn't pay for you to drive to the land of STI's'), but Source to Sea is an achievement of a record, and will hopefully be thoroughly enjoyed by many more, like I have.