(Independent/MGM)

Fledgling Brisbane muso soars

Some artists develop gradually like a fine wine; a rare few emerge fully-fledged. With debut mini-album Old Brown Shoe, singer-songwriter Dan Parsons slots firmly into the latter category, offering up eight songs of incredible maturity. Along the way, he deftly shifts from rootsy guitar rhythms (I'm Nowhere Now and Coast To Coast) to pedal steel twang (The Morning After) via several delicious servings of acoustic folk before springing a surprise transition to joyous almost-MOR, folk-pop on final track Words From A Bus In September. However, on an album of charmers, nothing dazzles so much as the simplicity of Throw A Dollar with its aching finger-plucked guitar line and subtle string counterpoints. Such diversity might seem a recipe for incoherence, yet Old Brown Shoe hangs together on the strength of Parsons' rich voice, his lyrical sweetness and confessional style. A debut to be enjoyed over and again.

STEPHEN GOODWIN

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