By Henry Lipput
If you follow Armstrong (aka Julian Pitt) on Twitter I’m sure
you’ve noticed that when he’s tweeting about one of his songs he adds a list of
other musicians to attract notice to his work. I’m here to tell you (and him)
that he doesn’t need to do that anymore.
With the release of his radiant third album Happy Graffiti (TheBeautiful Music/Country Mile Records) Armstrong has made it clear, with his trademark
DIY use of vocals, acoustic guitars, and snyths, he doesn’t sound like anyone
else because he has a sound all his own. But if some of the songs on the new
album sound familiar it’s not because they sound like someone else; it’s
because for the past year or so he’s been tweeting early versions of some of
these songs and one of them, “Happy Someone,” was released as a single last
year.
One of the themes in Armstrong’s work is the idea of walking with
a friend or partner and having a conversation to work out problems (“Keep on
Walking” and “Eyes Wide Open”). “Keep on Walking” is also one of Happy Graffiti’s
songs in which upbeat arrangements bump up against melancholy lyrics: “But I
don’t feel afraid/I keep walking through a summer’s day/Keep on walking with
me.” And on “Outside Looking In:” “I was always on the outside looking in/I
broke the chains that bind my heart/That hold me down and never let me go.”
The lovely, gentle “Songbird” recalls McCartney’s avian flights
and “In A Memory” has a piano-based “Let It Be”/”The Long and Winding Road”
feel to it. “Happy Someone” gives a lift to Happy Graffiti with its positive message
of lessons learned: “Time will tell if we’ve learned our lessons/Opened up the
world to feel like something new/Time to be that person/Be that someone/Be that
someone/Life lights up the sky full of angels.”
Instrumental tracks on an album can feel as if the songwriter
can’t quite come up with the words to fit the melody. Happy Graffiti’s “Days
Turn into Months,” however, is unique in that it fits just right in the
running order and the album as a whole.
