Total Pageviews

Thursday 26 October 2017

NEW MUSIC - BURY ME DEEP BY MANDY BINGHAM

















Bury Me Deep
by Mandy Bingham


All songs written by Mandy Bingham,
except The Days of Pearly Spencer written by David McWilliams

Track Listing

1 In The Creases Of My Heart
2 Flamingos Lament
3 Epically Falling
4 I’m Not Crying
5 Broken Glass
6 Not Enough
7 The Human Touch
8 Talk To Me About Love
9 Bury Me Deep
10 The Days Of Pearly Spencer

Musicians/singers: Mandy Bingham, Graham Bingham, Michael Mormecha, Edelle McMahon, Laura McFadden, Arco String Quartet, Janet Henry, Lola Bingham, Bob Speers, Anthony Toner, Stephen Scullion, Roy Fullerton.

Produced by Michael Mormecha at Millbank Studios, Northern Ireland
Artwork by Vikki Scott. Graphic Design by James M. Lyttle


In 2015, I blogged this:

“Every once in a while, you hear a song, music, a voice, a lyric that forces you to stop what you are doing and just listen. So much popular music is throwaway, ho-hum stuff that is just noise at the end of the day. But, sometimes, and not often enough, something special emerges and stops you in your tracks. I bring you news of a stunning 6-song collection from Northern Ireland singer-songwriter Mandy Bingham.”



















I was referring to the brilliant EP “Mandy Bingham Vol.1”. Now I bring you news of Mandy’s debut album “Bury Me Deep” and if the EP was the taster, prepare to salivate and savour an exceptional album from a writer and performer growing in stature and confidence, showcasing nine new songs and a very special cover.

“Bury Me Deep” is a mood album, a journey into sometimes dark places, reflecting on relationships, on love and loss, exploring sadness, memories and the meaning of this thing we call life – “I hope I did my best”; “I’m epically failing at love”; “Guess we never saw it coming, Baby, here we are at the end”; “I’m holding this grudge close and very tight”; “Life can get a little lonesome when you’re older”; “I’m not crying for the leaving, I’m not crying ‘cause I’ll miss you anytime soon ……. I’m crying ‘cause you didn’t even try”. There is heartbreak, self-appraisal, brutal honesty and thoughts of what might have been. But, strangely, given the temperament of the album, there is a positive edge to the songs and strength in the intention to survive whatever is encountered in love, in relationships and in this often rocky and challenging road between cradle and grave.

I hope I am not being downbeat here in my comments because the album works extremely well and the songs and their content flow into a tapestry of short stories. The production is wonderful, the musical arrangements and accompaniments are beautiful (I’ll single out Graham Bingham here amongst an amazingly talented supporting cast) and Mandy Bingham’s singing is pure delight, heartwarming and ever a joy to this listener. Her original nine songs are testament to a superbly talented artist.

It is not often helpful to draw comparisons but occasionally I was reminded of the sublime Dory Previn and Janis Ian.

The superb nine songs are rounded off by something that I always thought would be impossible – a distinctive and memorable cover version of one of the most distinctive and memorable records ever made, The Days of Pearly Spencer by David McWilliams. Mandy and Co have pulled it off. Many of us know, but there may be some who do not, that Mandy is David McWilliams’s daughter. David McWilliams is a singer-songwriter I revere.  He was/is much more than Pearly. Mandy Bingham is a magnificent singer-songwriter in her own right, with her own identity. I love him. I love her and I love this album.

This blog post has been shared on Digg, Tumblr, Google+ and Facebook. Please feel free to share it widely and support the music by buying it!





No comments:

Post a Comment