Wow. More seriously kind words on the album. As I’m a year older this week I really appreciate the point about being mature beyond my years. Encouraging to know that someone thinks I’m young-ish : )
“It is hard to believe that Kris Morris, who hails from the same coastal part of Australia as Jack Johnson [kris: Gentle Jack is from Hawaii but yeah same kinda seaside vibe], is as young as he is. His anguished lyricism and musical competence are from another era, by a significantly older performer. Although he has been variously described as being influenced by the occasionally vapid Ray Lamontagne, the US folksy Ryan Adams and even fellow Antipodean Neil Finn, what emerges is the distinctive and comprehensive confidence of a guitar player and songwriter, whose vocal dexterity can more than stand-up on its own choral intensity.
Okay. So there is a bit of over-dubbing and layered-tracking used to build his unique sound but, when you hear his voice accompanied only by his capable guitar plucking, then you also realise that you are listening to a solo performer of considerable substance, whose past seven years spent as a troubadour around the pubs, clubs and university circuits in the UK have been a time well spent in formulating his debut album, I Think We Both Know. That’s right. This is the man’s debut. He did make a small mark with an EP launched in early 2007 (‘Little Light’) but, as we all know, it is only air-play that will guarantee commercial success and I believe that Kris Morris more than deserves that recognition.
Dabbling on the peripheries is both a luxury and a detraction from where he should be. His sound is personified by the occasional pain of his experiences, although it is not as tragic as the archetypal, beard-growing ‘mountain man’, of a type that seems to have grown commercial fruit for some artists through the TV commercials scene. Morris displays a genuine honesty and as much musicality as Jeff Buckley, despite the occasional melancholy of some of the tracks on this album (release date: 13th April 2009).
There is some truly wondrous music on this CD, which ranges from potent electric rock to soft and naked poetry from the heart. We are informed that he has returned to Oz. Somehow, I think he will come back to Blighty, because Kris Morris is one artist of whom you will be hearing more in years to come.”
4.5/5
Iain Robertson
Reviewed Online