Jonathan Wilson: Fanfare – review

The acclaim for Jonathan Wilson's 2011 debut, Gentle Spirit, meant he could call on some real heavyweights for the follow-up. The assembled cast here includes Jackson Browne and the Jayhawks, while none other than David Crosby and Graham Nash (of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) drop into provide trademark silky harmonies. The result is that Fanfare is something of an epic shrine to softer 70s rock: balanced on a sixpence between Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, John Lennon's Mind Games and namesake Dennis Wilson's exquisitely weary Pacific Ocean Blue. Any danger of a drift from homage into pastiche is avoided by the audible sincerity of the 38-year-old's visions, and some top-drawer songwriting. The self-produced album probably could have done with a stronger guiding hand: guitar solos go on too long; fragile moods are shattered by a squawking sax. However, the likes of the delicately epic title track, Dear Friend and Future Vision's tom tom-spattered paean to "the sweet caprice of love" are dreamlike and magical. Fanfare takes several plays to fully reveal its charms, but persistence is more than worthwhile.