 | | George Thomas + The Owls: Concert For Two Bicycles |
On record, he’s just as idiosyncratic, which makes for an album that will either worm its warming way into your heart or drive you tweely out of your brain. The reason for both conclusions is the same – the tantalizing nature of his music. His songs, such as they are, don’t so much ring out as drift away into the ether, offering no insistence to be heard and happily settling for the mere possibility of stumbling into your ears unexpectedly. Indeed, so delicate are some of the offerings, like the translucent Cakes Pastries And Patisserie or the dark On Fife Ness, that to have captured them on record seems almost as cruel as pinning a butterfly to a board. There is occasional robustness – take Washing Line Song’s toe-tap rhythm or the shuffle of Cruelty Blues – but for the most part, this is country folk that wears its feyness proudly on its scrawny chest. Yet, despite an unnerving desire to pack off a food parcel to George in an effort to beef him and his sound up a little, the collection is oddly alluring. That said, it’s definitely one for the faint hearted. | 
