Stuart A. Staples — Leaving Songs

Stuart. A Staples, is the lead singer of the Tindersticks. With his second solo album, he offers up enjoyable collection of soulful and country licked adult pop songs , all tinged with his unmistakable sugary brown voice. He has one of those Classic voices, very distinctive and charming in its tone.

All the songs as the title suggest  are about leaving, Staples mangers to inbreed each song with interesting poetic turn of words, which one can relate to, talking about heart ache and life’s ups and downs. The tone for the most part is melancholy tinged lyrical, like a lot of his work with the Tindestick's, but there’s also a feeling of resolve present, of moving on. Musically the tracks are built around the base of Stuart’s voice and strummed guitar, which he builds around a patchwork of organ and piano work, trumpet, trombone, string and some beautiful Steel Guitar playing round. Along with the odd touches of female backing singers, he is joined on two tracks for a duet by  two  female singer. The musically tone is laid back and happy go lucky for the most part, but  also lined with some lush velvet darkness.

A truly captivating album, that’s full of well written songs that will stick in your head, that’s easy going but also thought provoking. Let’s hope this brings some much dissevered mainstream success  for Staples and the Tindersticks.