There are those evenings when you look at a sunset and wonder if you could compose a soundtrack to suit and perhaps, perhaps indeed, The Whispering Pines had that in mind as the motivation for this self titled album as it has warm melancholy sonically stamped all over it.
Back story first. The Whispering Pines is actually Matthew Boulter from English semi underground folk rockers The Lucky Strikes and, given his choice of name matches that of a song by The Band, it will be no surprise that, for this solo effort, he walks down the rather overcrowded Americana road carrying these thirteen songs. There are, however, some nice sonic touches to divert your ears from this full scale revisitation of the sensitive soul approach to reflective song writing with “Tired Sleep”, “Blue” and “The Poetry Society” easily capable of standing alongside the best of the genre.
However, a good few of the songs sound unfinished – “Gold Ring” in particular - and I would hazard a guess that the album was recorded over an extended period of time given the variation in the quality of presentation. So, whilst there is merit here, “The Whispering Pines” is another example of an album that sounds, unfortunately, like its creator simply got lost in someone else's shadow.