Album review: Simon Kempston: Impasse

This, Kemptson's second album, combines this Edinburgh-based singer-songwriter's breathy, idiosyncratically tremulous vocals with his delicate fingerstyle guitar and some rich-toned accompaniment from Tom Merritt-Smith on cello and Fiona Cuthill on violin. The overall effect is highly engaging, but Kempston's wispy articulation makes some lyrics impossible to decipher without resort to the (microscopically) printed lyrics in the album sleeve, which would seem a fundamental flaw for a singer-songwriter.

Some songs could do with greater melodic interest, although numbers like My Tattered Uniform are gripping in their own quirky sort of way, while Renegades and Martyrs is borne along on a lightsome torrent of guitar and fiddle. While suffering in articulation, his delivery comes over heartfelt, as in The Picket Line, recalling the conflict of a strike, while Mikhail lopes along dramatically. Despite its flaws, this is a persuasive piece of work, and a distinctive sound.