Peter Doherty - Grace/Wastelands
Rating
RIYL
The LibertinesBabyshambles
Dirty Pretty Things
Release Date
03/24/2009
Label
AstralwerksTracklist
1. Arcady2. Last Of The English Roses
3. 1939 Returning
4. A Little Death Around the Eyes
5. Salome
6. I Am The Rain
7. Sweet By And By
8. Palace Of Bone
9. Sheepskin Tearaway
10. Broken Love Song
11. New Love Grows On Trees
12. Lady Don't Fall Backwards
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When Pete Doherty (now Peter) isn’t loading up on heroin, smoking crack with Amy Winehouse, or spending time in jail for any of those aforementioned extracurricular activities, he is fronting bands such as the defunct Libertines or Babyshambles. This time around he’s decided to do things a bit differently with a wonderfully done solo record. Now, without having to deal with any other band members, Doherty has ventured out on his own to compose Grace/Wastelands. Most of the time it’s just Doherty and an acoustic guitar on these tracks, leaving behind the fast paced punk rock tunes and settling for a more relaxed vibe that is much preferred to the Libertines. With this solo effort, Doherty is able to show off his own personal songwriting skills where he travels along several genres of music.
As an apparent lover of all music, he is able to mix a concoction of blues, gypsy folk, and rock just to name a few genres, which he fuses with his own brand of poetry. There is no denying that Doherty can write a good tune because this album is choc-full of them. You'll find a lot of genius moments in songs like the folk laden "Arcady", the upbeat and bass heavy "Last of the English Roses", the gypsy folk styled "1939 Revisited", and the rag-time blues styled "Sweet By and By".
There are a few pitfalls, though, and they mainly can be found in Doherty’s voice. There are moments where he sings sweetly and softly, and then there are those cringing moments where he will lazily drone on as his singing goes utterly flat. His worst offense is the song "A Little Death Around the Eyes". It is a dark waltz of a song where Doherty tends to not remember what key to sing in. The song itself is amazing, but it is poisoned by his singing, along with forgettable lyrics written by Carl Barat (also formerly of the Libertines) such as, “Your boyfriend’s name was Dave / I was bold and brave / And now your mine.”
Leaving out Barat’s lyrics, Doherty is a masterful poet. In the track, "New Love Grows on Trees", a spacey acoustic ballad, lyrics such as, “If you’re still alive /When you’re 25 / Shall I kill you / You told me to / I really don’t want to,” spice up the record. Doherty did get some help from a few friends on this record beyond Barat. He collaborates with Graham Coxon of Blur on most of the songs, the wonderful duet with Dot Allison on "Sheapskin Tearaway", and the help from Barat on "A Little Death Around the Eyes".
Doherty will have a lot of eyes peering in on him with the celebrity he has created around himself through his drug addictions, dating of Kate Moss, and building up a reputation in the UK music scene. Whether Grace/Wastelands will live up to the hype his name brings is still yet to be answered, but there is no denying that it is a beautifully written record.
--Andrew Beam
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