Full Review: Peasant – Shady Retreat
Humbly understated, Peasant spends 10 tracks trying to bring you into his world where you’ll need to slow down in order to appreciate the beauty. Of course the songs, and stories that they tell may seem a bit more dramatic than they actually are, but that’s usually what you get with the singer/songwriter genre.
“The Distance” is one of the brightest spots on the album, taking its time to get to the memorable part. Once you’ve gone through the song and have it lodged in your head, the verses seem to sound sweeter, building to the song’s chorus “where have you been my lover, where have you gone my friends…”. “The End” is another song, easy love early on, and just one of the many that feature the egg shaker to assistant with the rhythm.
Admittedly the middle few songs is where the record lacks, with the first 4 tracks stealing the show. Even though “Pry” is not noticeably different from “The End” or some of the first tracks, it, along with “Prescriptions” really drag on, usually being skipped. I could see the goal of mimicking a horse walking with the percussion to underline the lyrics in “Prescriptions”, but it just doesn’t work for the duration of the whole song.
“Slow Down” finishes out the album with a little grit in its teeth, and gives a satisfying end to a fairly short album. ‘Shady Retreat’ feels like it misses some of the brillant tracks that ‘On The Ground’ produced, like “We’re Good” and “Not Your Saviour”, but at the same time this new record is definitely more consistant and solid the whole way through. Thoughtful and poetic, intriguing and addictive, it really is hard to see why Peasant hasn’t caught on more widely, but here is your invitation to join the [mellow singer/songwriter] party.
Release Date: 3/2/10
Label: Paper Garden
Buy: Amazon
Tags: peasant, shady retreat
