Since
Bob Dylan emerged in the early 1960s, people have been declaring subsequent singer/songwriters to be "the new
Dylan." The first "new
Dylan may have been
Donovan, the Scottish folk-poet who came along shortly afterwards. No one ever seems to have been called a "new
Donovan," but that wouldn't be a bad way to describe
Piers Faccini on the basis of his third album,
Two Grains of Sand. The British-born, French-raised
Faccini has a similar calm, breathy tenor (he lacks
Donovan's lower notes), and he sings over simple folk arrangements often consisting of a fingerpicked acoustic guitar line, plus a violin, say, or a harmonica, now and then with a harmony vocal or simple, restrained drum pattern. These polite folk-pop performances are in the service of
Faccini's lyrics, which are heavily poetic, but not particularly original, laced with clichés and platitudes. Now and then he works up an emotional declaration, as on the anti-war "A Storm Is Going to Come," but most of the time he is reflecting on the vagaries of love by employing nature imagery. Actually, it's better to focus on the gentle grooves and contours of the music than on the words, anyway.
Piers Faccini is the sort of performer who should assure that, no matter how old the members of
Fairport Convention get, there will still be people to play their annual Cropredy Festival. ~ William Ruhlmann