CHRIS BRAIN - Red Sun Rising

Chris Brain's music is contained in a few simple words: pastoral folk inspired by John Martyn, Nick Drake and Anne Briggs, nothing new yet still engaging and inspired. It's no surprise, then, that the fourth album by this Yorkshire musician ("Red Sun Rising") entrusts its charm to a few guitar chords and a gentle touch of fingerpicking, all caressed by equally fragile, poetic instrumental incursions that, like splashes of colour on a black-and-white drawing, enhance its beauty.

I like to imagine that the rising red sun of the title represents a likely counterpart to Nick Drake's "Pink Moon," as if, after the optimism of the previous album "New Light," Brain were trying to give colour to hope. In this rational, metaphysical quest for peace and serenity, the musician intones bare melodies for guitar, voice and birdsong ("Mornings Relief"), but doesn't shy away from a more intense instrumental staging – violin, drums and electric bass – to frame one of the most vivid ballads ("Still Waiting").

There's a lot to savour on "Red Sun Rising," starting with the cosmic country atmosphere of the title track, complete with pedal steel, moving on to the refined fingerpicking notes of chamber-folk in the style of Penguin Café Orchestra on "Kinds Of Kindness," and finding its perfect synthesis in the small songwriting masterpiece "Open Up Your Eyes".

Chris Brain's songs are simple yet full of character and personality: the duet with Natalie Wildgoose underscored by piano touches on "Big Hill," and ballads like "Bloom And Die," "All That Goes Around" and "When All Is Said And Done" are the work of a remarkably talented songwriter. If you love the most authentic, refined English folk, "Red Sun Rising" is unlikely to disappoint you.

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27/05/2026