Last year, we shared the news of Hear My Voice, a project launched by Piers Faccini’s label Beating Drum which aimed to give a platform to a select group of exciting artists the label encounters. The first in the EP series was Gnut, the voice of Claudio Domestico, one of the finest young contemporary Italian singer-songwriters. This was followed by Tui Mamaki who was born and raised in New Zealand, four beautiful songs which combine the odd meters and musical styles of traditional Bulgarian music with the English of her native New Zealand. The last EP to be released was from Horsedreamer, the voice of the acclaimed UK based Trinidadian poet and singer Roger Robinson.
These are three remarkable voices, refreshingly contemporary and sounding incredibly unique in their own very individual ways and the fourth release sits alongside those voices perfectly – that of the Piers Faccini himself. Taken from Hear My Voice #4 EP we have the pleasure in premiering the accompanying video for Could Have Been You. Calling to mind the arrangements of Robert Kirby (Nick Drake, Vashti Bunyan), the song is lifted by the string arrangements of composer Luc Suarez, a collaborator in Faccini’s first band, Charley Marlowe in the 90’s and drums played by Ken Coomer, (Wilco, Uncle Tupelo).
Suarez and Cooper also provide string arrangements and percussion for the A-side track ‘Hope Dreams’ while on the B-side, two more intimate tracks, ‘Angel of Mercy’ and ‘Say You Don’t Know’ allow us to imagine the songwriting artisan, at work in his hideaway in the hills of Cevennes in southern France.
Order Hear My Voice #4 via Bandcamp
or better still, order all four here – https://beating-drum.bandcamp.com/album/hear-my-voice-on-going-ep-collection.
Photo Credit: Mr Cup