Jack Nolan - Songs For Hemingway (2024) Hi-Res

Sticking with Australia we have veteran musician Jack Nolan’s album, “Songs For Hemingway” which finds him going back to his roots. Nolan has had a hand in numerous Aussie line-ups playing with members of The Hoodoo Gurus and Midnight Oil but “Songs For Hemingway” is stripped-back acoustic music and it’s very impressive. There’s a refreshing sense of light and air in the opening song ‘Diamonds On The Water’ but it’s the second song, ‘Tofino‘, which sets the scene for the remainder of the album. Named for a tourist attraction on Vancouver Island in Canada, Nolan wrote the song there while reading Hemingway’s “The Old Man And The Sea”, hence the album title. It’s a glorious song, not dissimilar to Eef Berzely or Nels Andrews, and it’s much darker than its predecessor, as are several of the following numbers. ‘Four Eyes’ has a sardonic take on the current state of democracy while ‘Lodestar’ is quite haunting with hints of Eastern melodies in its fade out. Overall, an excellent album and highly recommended.