Brown bread can be wholesome. Or is that wholemeal? Brown bread isn’t really my thing so I can’t really remember. However, “Overstory”, the debut album from John Paul Mason, is undoubtedly wholesome and is, in all likelihood, the most earnestly performed album to make the acquaintance of my ears so far this year.
Ten songs are what you get on this folk flavoured album and all of them are performed with the kind of deadly seriousness that bodes well for the task of determining the spiritual importance of John Paul Mason’s words. He certainly holds no truck with flighty affectations either and duly delivers his, often curiously downbeat, lyrics with an earnestness that would do a tree hugging Sunday school teacher proud even if, truth be told, the gospel ghost would likely pass on the opportunity to haunt him.
“Overstory” is undoubtedly an earnest album and I’m sure that John Paul Mason’s followers on the path to environmental and collective harmony will be well served by its release. With that said, I’m off to make some toast and I shall, of course, be using white bread for that.