Following a brief keyboard drone (Mobius), Liverpudlian singer-songwriter Robert Vincent’s second album, I’ll Make The Most of My Sins, gets underway with So I Love, a number about betrayal, one that might best be described as what Oasis might sound like recast as brooding Americana blues. However, it’s a very atypical sound, with the exception of the folksy Americana rolling rhythms of Denial and, bolstered by resonator guitar, the muscular November murder ballad fuelled by deceit and jealousy. The rest of the album is pretty much of an acoustic persuasion, heralded by the simple ‘change-my-ways’ love song gentle trot of All For You, his vocals double-tracked towards the end. Introducing mandolin and with an organ undercurrent, Lady follows a similar vein, both musically and lyrically with Time Won’t Wait another stripped back number with some Dylanesque harmonica.
He’s no lightweight as a lyricist. You Wouldn’t Let It is a questioning of morals and actions. While the slow waltzing Dancing With Devils acknowledges that it’s sometimes easier to take refuge in the side of life, a bar here, a bar there, we should be fighting against. Echoing its theme, as he sings “shine a light in the darkness”, the minor key title track addresses the need to transcend the muddied complexities of today’s world and find a simpler way, but, to make the most of the vices and sins on offer until that happens.
In striking contrast to such philosophical musings, it ends with Hand To Hold, a simple seven-minute folk blues song for and about his children that sees things out on an optimistic, affirming note. Last year, Robert Vincent became the first recipient of the Bob Harris Emerging Artist Award for the UK Americana Music Association. On the evidence here, he’ll be needing more room in the trophy cabinet.
I’ll Make The Most of My Sins is out 3rd Feb via At the Helm Records