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James Elkington
Ever-Roving Eye
PoB-050
Black or Green Glass LP/CD/digital
April 3, 2020
Chicago songwriter and guitarist James Elkington—who has collaborated with everyone from Richard Thompson to Jeff Tweedy to Tortoise—recorded his sophomore album at Wilco’s Loft, expanding upon his celebrated 2017 debut Wintres Woma (PoB-034) as well as his recent production and arrangement work for the likes of Steve Gunn, Nap Eyes, and Joan Shelley. Casting glances back to British folk traditions as well as toward avant-garde horizons, these brilliant new songs, as accessible as they are arcane, buttress Elkington’s brisk guitar figures and baritone poesy with strings, woodwinds, and backing vocals by Tamara Lindeman of the Weather Station.
9/10 (Album of the Month). The triumph that Wintres Woma hinted at ... his richest, most complete effort yet. What immediately sets the record apart from many of its counterparts, even from Elkington’s debut, is its swing. An outstanding record from a humble collaborator, a leisurely developer, a man forever caught somewhere between Chorleywood and Chicago.
– Uncut
4 stars (Filter lead review). Chicago folk rock's MVP. Crisp études ... subsumed into an elaborate, woody matrix.
– MOJO
James Elkington continues to mix gorgeous Bert Jansch-like guitar lines with prime 6 Music melodies. Ever-Roving Eye is his best album yet, his lazy, heated vocals helping songs such as Carousel and Nowhere Time burrow deep in the brain (fans of Bill Callahan and Wilco, listen up).
– The Guardian
Elkington's music strikes a warm traditional tone, with echoes of Pentangle in his agile playing, his warm vocal tone, and the half-blues, half-traditional British tenor of his songs... Wintres Woma in 2018 and now Ever-Roving Eye [are] both warm and gorgeous, studded with striking lyrical imagery, arresting melodies and intriguing musical intervals.
– PopMatters
Elkington’s guitar chops are such that he has done session work for Richard Thompson, among others, and his intricate acoustic fingerpicking underpins these sturdy songs, as do subtle melodies built to last.
– Associated Press
Like Wintres Woma, the album is rooted in elegant folk with mesmerizing fingerpicked guitar and leans on Elkington’s expressive, dusky baritone. Songs like the subverted Laurel Canyon-styled pop of “Leopards Lay Down” reveal cryptic but compelling flashes of Elkington’s dark wit. Overall, however, the songs on Ever-Roving Eye are more hot-blooded and propulsive.
– Chicago Sun-Times
4 stars. Another brilliant album... Full of cryptic lyrics and highly skilled musicianship, it's a wonderfully engaging record that will no doubt appear in the Best Albums of the Year lists come December.
– The Morning Star
