Nick Drake

I spent some time with my older brother over Christmas, and the discussion got around to how our respective musical tastes began to diverge as our teenaged years progressed, and we drifted into adulthood. I chuckled when I reflected how I would deride my brother's preferences, but also admitted that I had eventually grown to like and respect much of the music to which he had listened, albeit over two decades later!

One of the artists falling into the above category was Nick Drake.  I distinctly recall my brother coming home, clutching those vinyl albums. I did not pay any great attention to the music, and rather arrogantly dismissed it as part of an introspective phase on my brother's part, or an attempt to appear "hip" with his friends. There is a temptation at that age to question the motives of siblings, rejecting any notion that something may actually interest them for purely intrinsic or aesthetic reasons.

Well, two decades passed, and I did finally "find" Nick Drake, via a more circuitous route than my brother had taken.  In my twenties and thirties I listened to lots of folk-rock and country-rock, and this led me on to singer-songwriters (Jackson Browne, Neil Young, Gene Clark), and then on to the British exponents of that genre, prominent among them being Drake.

On revisiting the three original studio albums, one thing which struck me is the "pastoral" feel, and also the ease with which one can be carried along by the deceptively complex melodies, and having to re-trace one's steps in order to fully take in the lyrics.  The foremost emotion which came to me, though, was "why haven't I been listening to this stuff for the past twenty-odd years?"

The album which appeals to me most overall is Five Leaves Left, with its relatively sparse but subtle arrangements, and varied lyrical themes. Acoustic guitar forms the bedrock of most of the songs here, but other instrumentation is tastefully added to provide texture and depth.  The nuances and charm of the songs and melodies are gradually revealed with repeated listening.  There is also an almost otherworldly, ethereal feel to some of the tracks, particularly "River Man","Day Is Done" and "Thoughts of Mary Jane".

Lyrically, Five Leaves Left comes across as a mixture of the observational and the introspective, and the listener feels like he or she is being transported to a particular place and time, and also a distinct stage in the songwriter's life. While some of the compositions on this album may initially come across as quite bleak, closer scrutiny uncovers some joy, wonder, awe and optimism.

The Drake album which I suspect divides opinion most clearly, and is also the most troublesome to analyse, is 1970's Bryter Layter.  More experimental and inpenetrable than the debut, with a discernible jazz-like feel in places, the songs alternate between the dreamy and the melancholy. Oddly, there are a couple of instrumental tracks.  I know that the arrangements on this album can have a polarizing effect, but I find it fascinating to hear these lyrics shrouded in such an unusual, even incongruous, sonic mist.

Pink Moon, the final studio album, is possibly the least melodically diverse of the three, and features none of the augmentation by strings and woodwind instruments.  This absence of such embellishments can make the album sound bleak, but also intimate. Drake's distinctive guitar work is projected more keenly, and the sense of intimacy is enhanced by the gritty sound of it, as well as the vocals.  Pink Moon has a much more seamless and spontaneous vibe to it than the other material, reflecting the manner and circumstances in which it was recorded.  None of the songs particularly stand out - the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

So, there we have it, a small but impressive and varied body of work.  Stylistically, Five Leaves Left stands betwixt the other two LPs, but I sense that there was no calculated career path.  The individual albums simply reflect the time and place being inhabited by Nick Drake when they were written and recorded. This is often the case with "singer songwriters".

For those who admire sensitive and literate music, Nick Drake's work is a must.  I just hope that other people don't, like me, take twenty years or more to fully embrace it!