Still Life

Description

"The dead, they do not come back," announces the title of the last track of Harlem River. Its author, Kevin Morby, is indeed rather haunted by living ghosts: Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen loom over the eight songs of this impressive debut album. Aside from a notable appearance at the last edition of Route du Rock, Morby is little known in France. Yet we have crossed paths with him unknowingly: on bass in the excellent Woods and on vocals with The Babies. Under his own name and solo, he delivers an album with a beautifully old-fashioned production: pedal steel, Hammond organs, and discreet choirs serve his airy voice, a voice that seems to come straight from the 60s as it speaks Dylan without an accent, on Wild Side (Oh the Places You'll Go). Now residing in Los Angeles, the American wrote his album as a tribute to New York, where he lived for a few years. He invited singer Cate Le Bon, and the result (Slow Train) is good. The whole is, by the way, remarkable: to those who enjoyed Foxygen's album last year, we recommend diving in without a life jacket into this Harlem River. Les Inrocks