Listening to Charlie Hall has always seemed to me a little bit like eating pufferfish at a Japanese restaurant - an acquired taste that may or may not go well with everyone who tries it (although I haven't yet heard of anyone poisoned to death from listening to Charlie Hall).
His lyrics and melodies have always tended towards obscurity (seriously, who sings songs about being found between Porch and Altar?), and his very unique (being politically correct here) voice and singing style have left quite a lot of listeners (myself included) out in the cold.
So it was with great trepidation that I opened my copy of The Rising and popped it in my CD player.
And I found, to my surprise, that it was a lot more listenable than I thought it would be.
There are still lyrics that made me do a double-take (We are rising / In Your rising - from the title track Rising; and Come illuminate the face that brings the healing / Comd illuminate the truth that brings the freeing - from Breathe), and some melodies and arrangements still need some getting used to, but the album as a whole has a pleasant electro-pop-rock feel that doesn't grate on the ears.
I do think that some of the songs could sound better if arranged differently, and I'm still making myself get used to Hall's voice.
But for a start, at least I'm not averse to re-listening to the album for my full review.
For a change, I'm going to leave this open-ended until I've given the album a couple more listens. Who knows? Perhaps I'll turn into a die-hard Charlie Hall fan by the end of the week.
I can't say the same for pufferfish though.
Here're two tracks from the album for your kind perusal please - the title track Rising (A Song of Ascent) and the slightly-maudlin Deeper In Love:
Let us know what you think! Charlie fans - no hate mail please, I have a fragile heart.
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