its been a few months, but he’s back.

and much as i wish his voice didn’t play my spine like a strung out bar-room piano and the rhythm of his melodies didn’t fit my breathing patterns so my lungs become a harmonium; they still do and j. tillman’s new album, cancer and delirium is another arc of beautiful songs which feels like a collection of ingmar bergman talking heads.

hair blown by artic winds, voices dipping below the crash of waves or the squall of gulls. tundras and cities. tears, funerals, wild flowers and redemption. plucked banjos; eerie steel guitar; ghostly, yearning vocals and the implied crackle of vinyl.

for a north country boy (kinda) josh’s evocative lyrics are fever dreams upholstered with swathes of southern gothic cadence, albeit tempered by the fairer mountains of his seattle home instead of looming monsoon clouds and swamp fogs. cancer and delirium is more pared down than last year’s minor works which might have something to do with the turning of the seasons (this was recorded over a cold christmas and new year). these simple, apartment recordings do more to evoke the wrapped in an old rug, down-home personal style of josh’s songwriting than months in a studio with someone like ethan johns could ever do. which probably says something about notions of authenticity, but the integrity of the whole production binds the songs, lyrics, recording, arrangements and intentions together in a creeping ivy scaffold.

and although the album’s available in europe through fargo from the 27th of this month (and in the us now through the brilliant yerbird) you, dear reader, can have one sooner (royal mail permitting) if you email us and tell us why you deserve it.

that’s right - a proper old school competition, so drop us a note (with your contact details) before monday 23rd and we’ll send a copy of cancer & delirium to the best response.

and if that wasn’t enough excitment he’s coming back to the uk supporting the lovely jesse sykes on a european tour next month.

i’ve never managed a whole album review and i know i won’t this time either, since i get distracted by my own reactions, dreams and memories but as j. tillman will be taking the stage at the bush hall here in london on may 10th it would be terrible shame if you all didn’t come and say hi to him.

see you down the front.

j.tillman - evans and falls