Gerry Cinnamon: The Bonny - album review

Some of his contemporaries have postponed their albums for more certain times, but Gerry Cinnamon has forged ahead with the release of The Bonny, a collection brimming with little nuggets of unpretentious empathy, writes Fiona Shepherd

Gerry Cinnamon

Gerry Cinnamon: The Bonny (Little Runaway Records) ***

While there is no way of knowing if we will be able to gather en masse come mid-July, the fact remains that tickets for Gerry Cinnamon’s debut Hampden Park show sold out in four hours – that’s 50,000 folks (at least) jostling to see one man in a baker boy cap with an acoustic guitar and a harmonica.

Cinnamon’s bare bones set-up makes Ed Sheeran and his loop pedal look needlessly fussy. But the sheer simplicity of his direct delivery is part of the appeal of this people-powered phenomenon, who went from zero to hero in the run-up to the release of his debut album, Erratic Cinematic.

Three years on, he appears unfazed, or at least largely unchanged by success. Cinnamon may acknowledge some chips on his shoulders, yet there is no side to him, only a refreshing honesty and wry humour to his folk wisdom.

Where some of his contemporaries have postponed their albums for more certain times, he has forged ahead with the release of The Bonny, a collection brimming with little nuggets of unpretentious empathy, such as the appropriately paced Canter, an ode to getting a move on with your life while remaining sympathetic to the things which hold folks back.

Dark Days, likewise, has it both ways, understanding the mindset that finds respite in the darkness, while promoting a shift in perception to make the most of what you have.Cinnamon chews over the good and bad that comes with an elevated profile on the strident acoustic beat pop of Outsiders (“standing on the outside, I don’t wanna come in”) and sticks to his Six String Gun with this straightforward homage to honesty in art.

There’s also a “take it or leave it” attitude to the title track, a folk anthem in waiting with a disarming message of gentle encouragement. Lyrically, it’s not a million miles away from the vague uplift and mild angst of modern MOR pop, but it is delivered without the accompanying chest-beating over-reaching peddled by many of his peers. Consequently, it is Cinnamon’s unvarnished celebration of the simple truths which chimes with the times.