Album Details

• Artist: Charlie Beresford
• Album: The Room Is Empty
• Label: Brightfield
• Year of Release: 2007
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2007-05-24

Charlie Beresford, painter, vocalist, and acoustic guitar master, uses all of his talents here to create a fourteen song set of seemingly small tunes of loss and growing, edgy anger, that upon repeated listens sound epic in their own way. This cinematic richness is due in no small factor to the help he gets from Tim Harries on bass and Mark Emerson on violin and accordion. They help center Beresford’s guitar in a jagged and moody space.

So while tunes like "The Tide That Pushed Away" and "If Only" sound fragile and restrained initially, they blossom into something dark and beautiful. "I Let You Walk With Me" manages to sound comforting and sinister at once, a sure sign of genius. Beresford’s playing is restrained but biting on that chain to be let loose. Like contemporary murder ballads, though with hints of saving grace, this record comes from a room that is far from empty.

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