D HENRY FENTON
Autumn Sweet (Laughing Outlaw Records)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Aussie troubadour D Henry Fenton left the Sydney pop scene for the life of a singer/ songwriter in North Carolina, worked halfway back across the States to play a SXSW showcase and was promptly snapped up by Laughing Outlaw Records, which is an, ahem, Australian indie. Go figure.

While you're working out the vagaries of life in the music biz, get ahold of Autumn Sweet, Fenton's Laughing Outlaw debut, and you'll quickly understand why someone, somewhere, was bound to sign the guy. He sings with a rare combination of pop sweetness and emotional power, and he writes songs worthy of his distinctive voice. His best songs are slice of life vignettes of people you might well know, but he sings about things you might not know about them, imagining interior lives and hidden dreams.

While the best known name in the credits may belong to former REM producer Mitch Easter, who plays on most tracks as well as producing, the best reason to hear it is Fenton himself, one of the rare singer/songwriters who seems to be equally adept on both sides of the slash.

Track List:

Trouble Comes * Autumn Sweet * Over & Over * Sleep * I'm Not Ready For You * Lightning * Love Only Lies Half Naked Next To Me * Slow Down Dixie * New York Song * Only Angels Can Fly * The Many Faces Of Esther * Sad Hotel * Jericho's Horse

© 2003 - Shaun Dale