If you’re a fan of vintage folk heroes like John Martyn, Nick Drake and Bert Jansch, by Jamie Dickson may very well end up being one of your favorite releases of 2024. The debut solo full-length from the editor-in-chief of magazine is a love letter to earthy sounds of the past, transporting the listener to a private serenade in a dark, fire-lit room. Evocative and intimate in feel, with real-life noises and guest musicians adding color, its natural warmth is rooted in a time when more emphasis was placed on musical honesty than anything too forced or contrived.
“The last thing I wanted to make was a beautiful but soulless album,” Dickson says. “I wanted it to feel like a piece of art in the sense of there being tragedy and joy stitched into these tracks. Most final versions were the second take, with a natural live energy.
We definitely weren’t trying to make an acoustic version of Def Leppard’s , where they famously separated out chords into single notes!” Three albums were sent to producer Chris Turpin (Ida Mae) for reference: by Pierre Bensusan, by John Martyn and by John Renbourn. The bar for quality and candor was set rather high in that regard. “I actually wanted bits of spit and sawdust, scuff notes here and there, because I love all that ’70s stuff,” Dickson says.
“We wanted to stay away from anything too pristine, like perfect-sounding digital reverb.” The main guitar for the sessions was a 2002 Martin 000-14 that had been listed on Reverb for.