Sean Ashby has played some of Canada’s biggest names in music, Sarah McLachlan being the biggest. He has also played with Ginger, with former members of the Grapes of Wrath and even added a bit of classical music to industrial act Delerium.
But his second solo CD, “24 Hours of Daylight” sounds like none of the above.
Yet Ashby exhibits a variety of styles or Grapes of Wrath style pop on “Shoulder Wide,” to more spaghetti western music like “Leone Western.”
He has a hauntingly beautiful fingerpicked piece called “Centre Line, ” which sounds like some of Jay Semko’s work for TV shows like Due South. For the complete counterpoint to that, he has a fuzzed out, slide guitar powered rocker “Barbwire Valentine.”
The upbeat Grapes of Wrathish rocker, “Something About you,” is a highlight as is “Sweet Tuesday” which almost has a contemporary country pop flavour.
THen he turns things down a couple notches with another slower number, the very soulful “3 Sides,” which has some spooky slide guitar.
He gets to show off his beautiful acoustic guitar picking chops on the title track, the very beautiful “24 Hours of Daylight,” which features chiming harmonics and plenty of tender fingerpicking.
The CD is all over the place musically, which makes it difficult to categorize, but it shows off the many facets of Sean Ashby’s playing. He has a strong tenor voice which shines throughout.
CD: 24 Hours of Daylight
Artist: Sean Ashby
Genre: roots/pop
Record Company: Black Sparrow Records
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