CD Review: Breathing Space, Coming Up For Air
Just after their excellent set at the Mostly Autumn Convention back in March, I remarked to bassist Paul Teasdale that in a couple of years time they might be giving Mostly Autumn a run for their money. A few minutes later the Mostlies launched into an absolute blinder of a set that seemed to emphasise for me the qualification ‘in a couple of years time’.
Just seven months later Breathing Space come up with an album that quite possibly tops the last Mostly Autumn release Heart Full of Sky.
Coming Up for Air isn’t really a prog album. There are no 12 minute songs about Hobbits on this one. It’s a quite commercial-sounding set with an 80s pop feel in places, evenly split between up-tempo pop/rock numbers and the sort of gorgeous sweeping ballads Iain Jennings used to write for Mostly Autumn. There’s no filler, and Iain has done a superb production job; the sound is crystal clear, and the tight arrangements don’t waste a note.
If the first album was really an Iain Jennings solo release, this one is very much a band effort, with writing credits shared between Iain Jennings, Olivia Sparnenn and Mark Rowan. Olivia’s vocals show how much she’s improved as a singer in the two years since the first album, and I’m seriously impressed by Mark Rowan’s guitar work. He’s not flashy, but every one of his solos fit the song perfectly. The album also features guest appearances from Liam Davidson, who contributes some soaring slide guitar on “Don’t Turn a Blind Eye”, and from John Hart, who contributes sax and flute.
Standouts are many; I love the beautiful “Rain Song”, a reworking of a song performed by Livvy and Chris Johnson when they supported Mostly Autumn two years ago. Another standout is “Searching for my Shadow”, another song of Livvy’s, with an instrumental section that has more than a hint of “Carpe Diem” about it.
This is yet another addition to the growing list of great 2007 albums. It’s available direct from the band’s website - www.breathingspaceband.info
