Album Review: Pete Dilley - Forecast (Self Release)

More and more we see young emerging artists taking their tentative steps in music whilst still at school; the bulk of Ella Edmondson's debut HOLD YOUR HORSES being written at the age of 15 for example or Ruth Notman's early song compositions being done as school projects, complete with dodgy Westlife type key changes, or more famously Adele, banging out an entire multi-platinum album's worth of songs about a 'rubbish' relationship whilst barely out of a school uniform, and countless other similar stories. The title of Pete Dilley's second album FORECAST started out as a GCSE art project, whilst the accompanying song and instrumental piece Forecaster and Forecast respectively, were written at a similarly early age.

Dilley's strength is in his guitar playing it has to be said; by his own admission, Martin Simpson is rarely off the player and some of that dexterity is apparent in Dilley's finger-style playing. The opening instrumental title track demonstrates a respect for his instrument and straddles the boundaries between Classical, folk and blues, with a discerning appreciation of composition for the former and a healthy use of both bottleneck and DADGAD tuning for the latter.

Whilst Until Tomorrow leans more towards a modern pop sensibility, with a little help from Steve Wilson's bass and some additional electric guitar and harmonica, Dilley's sense of composition can stray into late 1960s West Coast pop/rock, reminiscent of Love and Country Joe and the Fish, especially on Never Ending Page, with its electric guitar and mandolin exchanges and Summer of Love feel.

Heartache in Disguise shows a more sensitive side of Dilley's singing and playing, with some beautiful guitar passages as Dilley temporarily wears his heart on his sleeve, as does the oldest song on the album Regrets, albeit with some new lyrics as Dilley explains "some new regrets needed to be added". Forlorn Child on the other hand owes more to traditional song and utilises a complex guitar arrangement reminiscent of the aforementioned Martin Simpson. 

It comes as little surprise these days to hear songs written about dads, from Ewan Maccoll's My Old Man through to Simpson's Never Any Good or in this case, Dilley's Old. The fact that dads tend to be much closer to us now as opposed to archaic Victorian standards, where dad would be virtually on a different planet in terms of generational differences. Dads and sons are more like brothers in our time, which therefore helps to create a much stronger bond, making it possible to connect through song, whilst at the same time avoiding sentimentality.    

Mirroring the winter theme of the album sleeve photographs, Loch Rannoch (I Know the Winter) was written almost to order, to be included in a Christmas special for Tony Hitchcock's radio programme on Sine FM. Deeply melancholic, the song includes some empathetic violin courtesy of Sue Hill. 

Having recently reached the finals of the BPAS Young Acoustic Roots Competition held at the 2010 Wath Festival and also being included in the steadily expanding roster of artists supporting Folk Delivering Hope, appearing on the charities first compilation CD with Jack's Song from his debut SAID AND DONE, there is little doubt that we are witness to a new budding talent.