Sting's latest album If On a Winter's Night, is a surprising departure from his usual all-you-can-eat, radio friendly buffet. In fact, it's deliberately, quaintly obscure. It's an album of old, (very old) christmas and generally wintry nothern folk songs, played on traditional instruments, with an understated nobility and a cool passion. For many years I've been mentally begging Sting to go do an accoustic album and I suspect the current folk revival, championed by Fleet Foxes, has finally given him the courage to attempt this.
Personally I think he has a grossly underrated voice, and that he's a wonderful songwriter, but to date it seems he has either some deep insecurity, or simply a bad habit of production ill-discipline that leads him to drown his songs in lavish studio-gravy. Too many instruments, too much tweaking, and the whole thing loses it's warmth and character. Here, he almost escapes himself; and as hoped what happens is that his oak-rich alto subtly blooms. Instead of supersynths, percussion and vocal layering 10ft high, there's a core chamber-set of acoustic guitars, lutes and mandolins, but with a stream of tasteful, considered, guest appearances from pipes, horn and trumpet, dulcimer, a cello, and close harmony vocal support... it sounds as if it was recorded live in his living room. My highlights are "Soul Cake", "The Snow it Melts The Soonest" and the genuinely impressive, touching, "Christmas at Sea". Throughout there's an intimate, brandy-fire cosiness to the album.
For the Sting-haters out there, this is simply more evidence of his absurd pompousness. For the more generously inclined, this is creatively ambitious and a refreshing change of pace. Nevertheless, it's probably one for the more loyal fans or the folk traditionalists. I'd still like to see him strip back the raw ingredients further and do a series with just, say, piano, double bass and drums...if only he had the courage.
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