Album review: Ron Sexsmith, Forever Endeavour (Cooking Vinyl)

Ron Sexsmith writes with a similar emotional honesty to Mark Everett, but in a more classic style, akin to the moving simplicity of Tim Hardin.

The French horn with which producer Mitchell Froom opens “Nowhere to Go” establishes the melancholy tone of Forever Endeavour, with its softly bruising songs about paths not taken, loneliness, and reveries. “These precious memories, how they wound and leave a scar, sweetened like wine,” Sexsmith sings over the Proustian wash of horns, strings and vibes in “Deepens with Time”, while elsewhere his McCartneyesque way with melody – and similarly chipper attitude – brings warmth to the regret of “If Only Avenue” and “Snake Road”.

Download: Nowhere to Go; Deepens with Time; Snake Road; The Morning Light