I’ve got a lot of time for Martin Livingstone and have always thought of him as one of the good guys in the Scottish music scene. For a start, he concentrates on the song. That might sound obvious but so many singer songwriters forget that songs are what people remember. He’s prolific too so his new album ”Contentment” is hardly going to be the work of a beginner.
Right from the start with the title track, he seems heading in the direction of Irish country this time around instead of mainstream rock. That’s a whole different sort of country to Nashville polished perfection and he adapts his words to the rigidity expected of that particular sub-genre. Underneath it all though, I still find suggestions that one day Martin Livingstone will find salvation and there are devotional aspects to “Take Me There”, "This Life" and “Make The Change” that support that assertion.
Like I said, Irish country is rigid and inflexible and many of the songs on this album could so easily be reinterpreted to fit right into this genre. I could imagine Norman Borland singing “The Girl With Green Eyes”, for example.
Production wise, this album was a bit awkward with Martin Livingstone’s vocals swathed in so much reverb that I got to thinking that it was some sort of pastiche. The album is available as a free download from Bandcamp.