This time last week, I was standing in Belfast at The Limelight catching Kiefer Sutherland Live for the very first time. It had been a long time coming, as we had previously covered his UK Tours on the mainland over the years, but alas, he had avoided Belfast on his run of dates until now.
So, with Kiefer fresh on my mind, it was time to delve into his latest offering, ‘Grey’, his fourth studio album, which lands May 29th via Maple Creek Records, to better understand this artist rather than the taster I had enjoyed last week.
Right away, you get a beautiful introduction to the quality of his songwriting. The album opener ‘Come Back Down’ is a glorious melancholy track that is dripping with emotive chord phrases, melodies and lyrical content that just pulls you in, ‘American Farmer’ I recognise from last weeks set, the age old story of underappreciating the very fabric of our society, the hard working farmers who provide the foundation that allows the rest of us to function and the modern day struggles they face daily. A common theme in Country and Americana, especially those who live it every day. ‘Goodbye California’ is a deeply personal track for Kiefer, after his life on film and now as he chases a different dream, a different pace of life.
The album itself is an easy on the ear collection of songs that hark back to a ‘Simpler Time’ as Kiefer well knows himself, we are in an age where for musicians there has never been a time where they can create new music, produce their own music and publish their own music, but alas that does not always guarantee that you’ll get heard, our only means to artists back in the day was the “Wireless” or on TV if you were lucky enough, so hearing an artist in person usually meant spending your hard earnt cash and catching them live, but today a million variations of streaming services, a million artists a day publishing new songs means it all gets lost in translation.
I would say that is what draws Kiefer to his Americana roots; it really is a statement of simplicity, one man and a guitar, the most basic of starting points before they embellish each song, transforming them into these glorious sonic landscapes as broad and impressive as the mountain ranges that inspire them. The album is a feast of dark, emotive songwriting, as Kiefer pours his soul into ten spine-tingling tracks.
A beautiful collection of honest songwriting, storytelling that takes you on a journey, and a journey that feels cathartic, necessary and worthwhile.
It was great capturing the man live in my hometown, but after absorbing ‘Grey’ from start to finish, four albums in, Kiefer has really found his voice, his signature sound, and I look forward to seeing where it will take him next.
Grey Tracklist:
- Come Back Down
- American Farmer
- Goodbye California
- Simpler Time
- Starlight
- Cruel World
- Down Below
- Third Times a Charm
- The Bottle Let Me Down
- Rage In Me
