No matter where they actually are, some people always seem to be somewhere else and so it seemed with Jim Dead judging by his album "Ten Fires". He's from Glasgow, or so it would seem anyway, but instead he lives in a world filled with dirt tracks, despair and dustbowls.
Bleak, downbeat Americana is the order of the day here with Jim Dead telling the kind of stories that will rarely bring a smile to your face. Devoid of Johnny Cash style religious imagery or Lee Hazelwood style black humour, "Ten Fires" is a matter of fact album delivered with an honest conviction and the able assistance of his co-conspirators James Duffin, Craig Hughes and Tommy Duffin.
Not that the proceedings are without drama. You could easily get a movie out of the bluesy "Jim Landstrom Must Die", for example, so Jim Dead clearly knows how to tell a story in song. Likewise, "Hotel" paints an effective picture of emptiness and that is perhaps where Jim Dead best makes his mark. He is the voice of the displaced and the unhappy who find solace in a different time or place.
"Ten Fires", therefore, is a difficult album to take in one go. It is almost relentlessly downbeat and the emphasis is firmly on atmosphere rather than on variety. That said, the album does have a charm that kind of creeps up on you just like the shadows do as the sun sets.