THE DEPTHS OF WINTER

Review # 73 Tiger MothTales is the personal project of the English singer and multi-instrumentalist Peter Jones. The Depths of Winter is his 3rd release, that comes after Cocoon (2014) and Story Tellers Part.1 (2015).

When I learn about his new albumI felt really excited, and I couldn't wait to listen to his new material. I was a little bit surprised by the overall style of the album, because it is more 'serious' and more melancholic than his previous 2 albums; so I had to listen to it a few times in order to feel familiar with it. Especially in comparison with Story Tellers, that was a fun and rather happy album, the difference in the major style and sound is more than obvious.

If I had to compare this album with his 2 previous ones, I would say that I could place it over Cocoon, and below Story Tellers. It includes some wonderful melodies, like for example Winter Maker; which I can't stop listening to, or Hygge, with the strong Genesis influences. Another song that I have to point out is The Ballad of Longshanks John.

There are 3 long (over 10 minutes) songs here, all of them very interesting ones; Winter Maker, Exposure and The Tears of Frigga. But as I wrote above, Winter Maker is the best of them by far.

Another very interesting point here is that despite that Tiger Moth Tales is a one-man-band, the sound is very rich, and not depending on keyboards like many other one-man-bands and projects. If you don't know that, is not possible to guess that every instrument here is played by only one person. And for that, it gains lots of points from me.

I can't say that I'm perfectly pleased or disappointed by that album, simply because I was expecting something very different. Well, maybe I'll have to wait for Story Tellers Pt.2 for that. But the truth is that The Depths of Winter is a very serious and well-made piece of work. For that reason, I will give 3.5 stars. (But I will rate it with 4.0)