CD: Paul Buchanan - Mid Air | reviews, news & interviews
CD: Paul Buchanan - Mid Air
CD: Paul Buchanan - Mid Air
The voice of the Blue Nile returns with an album of simple but devastating beauty
In the eight years since the fourth – and very possibly last - Blue Nile album, High, Paul Buchanan has seen his band disintegrate and a close friend die. Little wonder, then, that his solo debut is a reflective record. The most cinematic of bands, the Blue Nile's ravishing sound-pictures generally came in widescreen; Mid Air may be a more intimate, art house affair, but it is no less affecting.
Mostly recorded in Buchanan’s Glasgow flat over the course of a couple of years, there's not much to it: 14 songs, as beautiful as they are brief, consisting of soft piano, the occasional daub of synthetic textural colour, and that masterful voice, weary yet still full of wonder. Reference points - both sonic and emotional - would include Sinatra’s late night suicide-suites of the 1950s and Blue Nile songs like “Easter Parade” and “Family Life”.
Mid Air is muted midnight music, yet it still manages to freeze-frame those moments of fleeting euphoria which elevate reality to something sublime. On “Half a World”, a tender lullaby for every insomniac burning through the wee small hours, Buchanan has “starlight in my suitcase”. On “My True Country” he returns to that independent dream country, that unashamedly romantic separatist state founded on the first Blue Nile album, to find himself “high above the chimney tops”. Back on the ground, Wedding Party is an emotional landslide, a concise and devastating portrait of a life-moment most of us will recognise: “Tear stains on your pillow / I was drunk when I danced with the bride”.
If it all sounds a bit heavy, a bit too much like hard work, it’s not. Mid Air isn't content to be simply blue and beautiful. There is real joy here, and a rather heroic attempt to embrace life in all its colours and complexities. When the album ends with the moonstruck "After Dark" you search for some other music to fill the void; almost all of it sounds brash, superficial and all but superfluous by comparison
Watch the video for "Mid Air"
rating
Share this article
The future of Arts Journalism
You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!
We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d
And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
Add comment