Folk
With the name Blabbermouth adorning a folk/electro-acoustic CD single, expectations weren't at an all time high for this review; however, just as one should never judge a book by its cover, neither should you judge a folk troubadour by his (albeit ridiculous) monicker.
'I Return' begins with a subtle finger-picked acoustic guitar that almost fails to register under the soaring lead vocal, yet carries the melody perfectly along the simple but effective song structure. An interesting story is spun during the verse, concerning a protagonist that has returned from the dead, but apparently, “things ain't the same, got no fingers, no brain, just a sad cold spirit.” Fittingly, Steven Thompson's haunting croon, coupled with the spooky string section actually posits him to be singing from beyond the grave. Yet despite this impressive beginning, when the chorus kicks in, pedestrian lyrics let the song down a touch, with unimaginative rhymes such as “high” and “cry”, “ground” and “sound” littering an otherwise beautiful melody.
The B-side, 'Death of a Songwriter' picks up where 'I Return' leaves off, with the same instrumental production supporting Thompson's tale of a songsmith leaving this world, yet living on through his music, “I've gone, but I live on and I'm sorry for the burden of my song.” This is actually a stronger song than 'I Return' and raises the interesting musing of an artist's work immortalising them after they die. Should anything terrible happen to Thompson, he should certainly be proud of this couplet of folk tunes; yet would anyone really want to leave this mortal coil with a legacy entitled Blabbermouth?