The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt (2010)

It’s exciting to have a follow-up to his debut, Shallow Grave (2008) coming out next week. The Wild Hunt is certainly a worthy successor to that wonderful album. Shallow Grave showcased some really nice, intricate guitar playing, that was interesting enough to carry the album. It spoke volumes about his talent that he was able to make interesting music with just his voice, a guitar, and a banjo. In 2010, he’s doing the same thing. The most striking difference is that he seems to be actually trying to sing. His voice has a shrill quality to it, and on his debut he embraced it but here he sometimes tries to strain a bit, as if trying to hit notes out of his range. This doesn’t exactly sound bad; and, though it just took some getting used to, there is such genuine emotion in his voice when he does this, it is a joy to hear. The guitar playing is still beautiful, always suiting the music so well. He still delivers great vocal hooks to keep the music interesting (see “King of Spain” for the best example). On the last track of the album, “Kids on the Run,” the guitars are replaced with a piano for a surprisingly disarming ballad. The Bob Dylan comparisons I keep reading are, at least, somewhat valid, since both artists had ways of communicating very common feelings in creative and uncommon ways, through their lyrics and the general emotion their presentation lent the songs. The Tallest Man on Earth is an artist to keep an eye on, for sure. If this is worse than Shallow Grave, it’s only so by a little bit.

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