Old Man River Good Morning by: Tom Bradbury Mon:09-Apr-07 Label: Red Label Year: 2007 WB rating 79 out of 100

Old Man River’s new album, Good Morning, very much reminds of a brighter Seachange. As if, rather than having been dumped, Beck had gotten a new girlfriend (or as a friend suggested: “actually gone to the sea”). Instead of a lyrical preoccupation with love lost, it is awash with philosophical introspection on the possibilities for improvement and self-correction, and on the restorative qualities of sunshine and summer. Yet the two albums share a certain aural aesthetic, and more importantly a kindred melodic sensibility and vocal style. Not that Old Man River (aka. Ohad Rein) is a Beck imitator, more that he is the yin to Beck’s yang. As that would suggest, Good Morning is a record that demonstrates considerable potential.

I have to admit that I was disappointed that the rest of the album was not as immediately infectious as the opener, ‘Sunshine’. I was in love with that song the very first time I played it, being one of those rare occasions where a song that has never before touched your ears has the eerie familiarity of something you have always known. From the first bar, ‘Sunshine’ has you dancing and singing, the way rock and roll used to before it became just rock. It is a plea to the gods, almost like a rain dance, Rein singing, “We’ve been waiting for so long for the sunshine…/Tell me where is the sunshine”. The majority of the album is less upbeat, more reflective musically, concerned with experiences Rein has had and the lessons he’s learnt. It’s not that the rest of Good Morning isn’t of a high quality, only that if it had been up to the standard of ‘Sunshine’ this album would have been an instant classic.

In his interview with Wireless Bollinger, Ohad Rein spoke about the way his journey across different parts of the world has influenced his songwriting, and the effect of this semi-nomadic experience is very much apparent on Good Morning. The use of sitar on this album is not just something Rein thought would sound cool, he actually learnt to play the instrument during his time spent in India, lending it a much more authentic feel than the sitar usually has in Western music, where it is often merely a pretentious flourish. It sounds like it is meant to be in Old Man River’s music – a product of his experiences that cannot be separated from the songs. I suppose you could call his music ‘free-spirit rock’ or ‘existentialist folk’, where every experience is a potential song, and every song is a cathartic experience.

On ‘Better Place’ Rein gentle strums as he wistfully sings his desire to be transported to a “better place”. He then realises it is he who requires reinvention, singing “Teach me how to lose all I know” as a transcendent combination of pedal steel, harmony, ‘good vibes’ (as they are referred to in the liner notes), organ and thoughtful percussion explodes out of the gentle verse to provide a soundtrack to his epiphany. 

‘Long Way From Home’, sees Rein softly singing over understated piano, with that ‘sensitive soul’ quality that Wayne Coyne has mastered. This is a track that demonstrates the sympathetic nature of his lyrical material and the inherent likeability of his voice: “May you be safe from all harm and danger/A long way from home”.

Some tracks on Good Morning are amazing, transporting the listener to a place of spiritual bliss in a way that few songs are able to do. Yet overall the album doesn’t quite live up to the potential inherent in its finest moments, preventing it from becoming the classic record that songs such as ‘Sunshine’ and ‘Better Place’ show Rein is capable of. Sometimes I found myself asking where the sunshine had gone, but as long as Old Man River is still looking for it, there will be more moments of ethereal beauty to come.