Never let it be said that Ralph doesn't have a softer side - and the Alex Highton follow-up album to the highly acclaimed Woodditton Wives Club appeals to just that. The Liverpool born singer songwriter has just released Nobody Knows Anything and it's an introverted collection of diverse musical gems.As a kid his time was split between his native Liverpool and Florence, Italy. It was there that his musical education began, as he took in everything from Talking Heads or Penguin Cafe Orchestra to The Band and David Ackles.
He lost his twenties to bad decisions and train-wreck relationships and it was only after meeting his future wife that he started to take songwriting seriously. The songs he wrote (part therapy/part love letter his new life) formed the basis of his debut album Woodditton Wives Club, a record replete with tales of rural S&M, mental, emotional and economic collapse, and ultimately salvation through love and family.
Nobody Knows Anything seems a more personal inwards journey delightfully rendered in a North Western stylee.From the melodious You Don't Own This Life to the quirkier It Falls Together you're immediately drawn into his introversy and the compulsive Panic makes sure you'll stay. There definitely must be something in the water in Liverpool that consistently produces songwriters of quality, whether it's Lennon and McCartney of yore or Ali Ingle currently and Alex Highton is floating towards the top of that musical H2o.
I won't go through the whole album on here but I will say that the eponymous Nobody Knows Anything is a highlight and Mephisto an understated classic with it's moody horns and jangly guitar. As enjoyable to listen to as Richard Hawley or Robert Wyatt - I can pay no higher compliment.
Get yourself copy of Alex Highton Nobody Knows Anything, out officially December 1st on Gare Du Nord Records, pour yourself a glass of wine and stick the headphones on, you won't be sorry.
Ralph doesn't do marks out of 10 however he's playing You Don't Own This Life on Radio KC this Sunday - which is nice...
THUNov20 - 23The End Festival 2014
London, UKTUENov25Alex Highton, Papernut Cambridge, Ralegh Long
Servants Jazz Quarters, London, UKTHUNov27Alex Highton
The Hunter Club, Bury Saint Edmunds, UK
