Johnny Flynn: Been Listening

Johnny Flynn is one of Britain's latest indie-folk acts, belonging to the Noah and the Whale-Laura Marling-Mumford&Sons "scene" (although he says they're really just a group of friends), .  
Been Listening is his latest work, and it sums up the main features of this singer-songwriter - who plays with the band "the Sussex Wit" - a slightly hoarse and soft voice, an array of various acoustic instruments, quirky lyrics and an almost childlike quality (think "The Moldy Peaches"). The title track is a haunting song - that's not only about music - which, along with "Amazon Love", shows the saddest side of lyrics that are sometimes melancholy even when the music is upbeat and lively (like in "Kentucky Pill"). Songs like "Barnacled Warship" feature Flynn on the fiddle - here with a motive slightly reminiscent of Dylan's "Hurricane" - and an almost country feel. "Sweet William (part 2)" is an example of his typically narrative lyrics (like "The Prizefighter and the Heiress") - in this case about a legend celebrating song and story-telling, with the accompaniment of fiddles that end in an Irish jig. "Howl" is one of the edgiest tracks, with Flynn on trumpet and electric (!) guitar, creating a more rocking sound that matches the angrier lyrics: "Stay in the light Joe / Stay with yourself / Put up a fight / Don't rest on the shelf".  There are two real jems in the album. The first is "The Water", featuring Laura Marling, whose voice blends perfectly with Johnny Flynn's, and both impeccable in delivering the simple message of the song "the water can't drown me, I'm done with my dying" in a way that's emotional, but not sappy. In concerts, Flynn has also performed the song with Marling's boyfriend, Marcus Mumford, of Mumford&Sons, in an almost as brilliant version. "The second high point also features a female voice - Lillie Flynn - whose delicate harmony adds depth to the heartwrenching "Amazon Love", which contains Johnny Flynn's best vocals, with a Tom Waits vein to them. The lyrics are his darkest to date: "Now quick to the cut are we waking / And seeing it all as the dream / The pillars that raised us is shaking / And Samson's wheel is the fiend".
The album also contains a second disc, with demos of five of the tracks, plus a version of "The Water" with Sofia Larsson as the female singer.
Johnny Flynn is one of the best folk singer-songwriters of his generation, and he has gained confidence and broadened his sound in this last effort, showing the full potential of the quieter side of British indie. His wonderful debut A Larum was considered "marvelous" and "buoyant" by Rolling Stone's David Fricke, and with this album it just gets better.