Thought I’d heard this one before and so it turned out to be as Gregory Alan Isakov’s “This Empty Northern Hemisphere” finally makes it across the Atlantic to our shores and, with its arrival, duly another American singer songwriter sets out to make his mark in an already overcrowded marketplace.
Little wonder then that, even with the ever present burning intensity of the serious musician, he pretty much gets swallowed up by the competition. True, there is a mellow charm to his words and music, especially on the Dylan-esque “Virginia May” and the poetic “Big Black Car”, but he is hardly the only one to follow that path and little else remains that would mark him out from the crowd.
So, “This Empty Northern Hemisphere” makes for a relaxed listen but is unlikely to invoke any sort of passionate response.
Available from CD Baby.