David Gunawardana – Figures & Faces
Self Released – 16 January 2019
London-based and of Sri Lankan heritage, David Gunawardana has been slowly spreading the word with his gentle, acoustic folk that draws on English and Celtic traditional forms as well as such influences as Gillian Welch and Anne Briggs.
Figures & Faces is his debut release, a six track mini-album rooted in themes of journey and transition, opening with the brief orchestrally-arranged and Eastern-tinged instrumental Calling before moving to the softly sung double-guitar fingerpicked Cloth about following the road ahead but still holding to the thread that can take you home.
The mood and mode continue with The Sages, a simple waltzing number about storytelling and the wisdom contained within couched in a typical hushed club setting while, in contrast, the clammy pastoral title track is a fuller, more expansive sound with violin, wind effects and spooked shivering notes complementing the more dramatic tenor of the lyrics.
It’s back to a simple American troubadour folk setting for the walking beat rhythm of Where She Walks, the narrator being lured across ever more treacherous terrain by a siren-like figure, backing harmonies provided by Sue Graves and Annette Burrows, before closing with Evening Song, a nimbly picked lyrically flowing number that weaves together his Martin guitar, octave mandala and B3 organ and pulls together the themes of journeys and beckoning paths explored across the EP.
While there’s evidence here of his interest in widening the sonic horizons beyond the basic acoustic framework, I’d like to hear him also pushing his vocal range and timbre beyond the admittedly appealing soft intimacy within which he currently works, but, even so, this is a hugely promising debut. Definitely, one to follow.
https://www.davidgunawardana.com