Nicky Murray - HOW LONG (2024) Hi-Res

Deceptively Simple Modern Folk Songs With a Tragic Celtic Edge. Scots singer-songwriter Nicky Murray. What a voice! The song was barely a minute old when I scribbled ‘this is an album that took a lot of hard work to make it sound so simple’ …. and a week later I still feel the same way; perhaps even more so.

Nicky Murray has a slight Scottish ‘burr’ to his singing; but not so much that you will ever pinpoint where he comes from; as you will be so enamoured by his soft and emotional style that every thing else seems irrelevant.
His songs are far, far from ‘irrelevant’ by the way. He obviously writes from the heart and is a keen observer of the world around him; bringing us the brittle beauty of 100 Horses, Fox Behind the Snow and The Days We Had too; but that description could probably be a catch-all for everything else here too.
I’ve used the expression a couple of other times over the years, but Nicky Murray is a songwriter with a poet’s soul; such is the imaginative way he constructs his songs and arranges them too.

I hadn’t really noticed before today; but there’s a gorgeous Celtic edge to So It Seems and the final song on the album, Sweet September; something that conjures up misty mountains and glistening rivers that feels as natural as breathing for the singer.
Of course this is where I’m legally bound to say that this is a long playing record that needs to be played from start to finish with absolutely no distractions to get the best from his deceptively powerful modern folk songs.

Track #2 Hearten is simply breathtaking, not just for the way Murray purrs the story, but the instrumentation behind his voice too; not least the shimmering cymbals, violin and soft piano playing too.

That said; two songs have haunted me in between plays; which must be a good thing, so I will point you to the tragically gorgeous The Days We Had and the delicately intricate Take Time as joint Favourite Songs; but I’m sure something else will touch you in the exact same way these have effected me.
Although Murray has released a couple of songs as singles in the run up to this release. I’m not sure where they will fit in on radio, as his whispering delivery must surely get lost on that format.