Adrian Crowley – The Watchful Eye of the Stars
Chemikal Underground – 30 April 2021
A cross between Leonard Cohen, Mark Lanegan and Bill Callahan, Adrian Crowley has a voice that insists you listen and hang on to every word of The Watchful Eye of the Stars. Thanks to producer John Parish, this is a widescreen production, but it’s still Crowley who guides you through the night trip of “Northbound Stowaway.” There’s a rhythm to the interplay between the Crash Ensemble strings, Crowley’s recitation and comforting background vocals of Nadine Khouri. “Day One, I stole onboard a northbound ship / No one saw me or my shadow / On the gangplank / For that I am thankful”, Crowley intones. Hiding aboard the ship his life takes on a dream-like quality as the tale delves deeper into a world that drags on day after day.
A bass drum rumbles deeply throughout “Underwater Song.” Combined with a 3/4-size nylon-stringed guitar, Parish stitches together recordings from home and studio, creating a mix that brings out the strength of Crowley’s songs. “Last night in the throes of a fever/ I went back to the old neighborhood/ And I went diving to your house.” The mystery to this song is trying to figure out what’s real and what is a fever dream.
Sighing strings of “Bread and Wine” set up a different scenario as Crowley talks about his new island life, “I found a halfway room in a seaside town / I’ll stay here for a while / Through my window I can hear the ship bells ring / And I wake to the smell of the brine.” The life sounds idyllic and feels that way, but certain phrases suggest that it’s not quite what it seems. After all, this is a man who can’t write because he can neither find pen or paper, which suggests that perhaps this may be a less than positive move.
Working with singers like Katell Keineg and Nadine Khouri who have suitable voices to play off his baritone, especially during the jazz-tinged “Colors of the Night,” Crowley has the kind of foils that add another layer to his musings. Rather than taking a straightforward path, Crowley surrounds his targets as the music becomes more complex, playing off the woman’s voice. Examining a life of solitude, “Ships on the Water” suggests that the solitary life of Crowley is not always what he really needs. “Seven days of solitude / A room by the water / Ships pass my window / Seven times a day.” The loneliness of this existence comes at a cost.
Less a song than a spoken word commentary over synthetic strings, “Crow Song” tells a tale of finding a crow with a broken wing and nursing it back to health. Yet despite all the hard work, the commentary ends with Crowley discovering the crow dead under a fence. It’s one of those moments that sends a bit of a shiver as we realize we live on a planet based on randomness. The cycle of songs end with “Take Me Driving.” Crowley is being driven by a woman who is “Breaking hearts and traffic lights.” That chorus stays with you long after the song has ended…That’s only fair since Adrian Crowley often finds himself hearing music in his sleep, “I actually hear it in my sleep and sometimes wake up and wonder who left the stereo on – and it’s really in my head.” Those songs he tends not to remember, yet the music of The Watchful Eye of the Stars stays with you long after it ends, a testament to the vision of its author.
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