Album Notes

review of sonnets and singers

'remember the very first time you heard Tom Waits and you thought: "No bloody way"? It's like that with Elliot Hall of Bristol and London. There's a flash of 'How crusty can you get?' and a snicker of disbelief at his grizzled old-man-of-the-hills mitherings, before you find yourself drawn in and clasped firmly to his musty-smelling breast. Hall sings acoustic, surprisingly anti-hippy roots ballads about junkies, drunks, prositutes and down-and-outs using wry humour and poetry ("She left me standing at london bridge/ Picking lighning out my eye", his crumbly Kurt Wagner-ish tones accompanied by his own guitar, piano and harmonica. All is shot through with a rare honesty - never do the subject matter of lyrics feel phony. 'Cold' for example, is about caring for for someone with dementia - and is hearbreaking in both simplicity and romance. Hall is what Ray LaMontagne pretends to be. He is heroic and compelling, (Anna Britten, venue magazine) Rating 4/5

Introduction

I could write this introduction as if it were someone else. I could say about how I was an artist with a certain amount of industry 'buzz' around them or I am receiving a lot of 'A&R' interest from record companies. None of this is true, I'm a struggling singer songwriter who has put alot of time and effort into developing the craft of songwriting. I love music and that is why I'm still doing it, it is the first thought that flashes through my brain when I wake up and the last one before I go to bed and most of the ones inbetween as well. Obsessed? Yeah, you're probably right. Sometimes I wish I could stop pursuing this crazy dream because it would make my life a lot simpler but the reality is I can't - I'll be doing this 'till the day I die. So far I've toured Ireland and played most of the decent venues around bristol and bath, England. I've recently I've been gigging a lot more in London and have been trying to work my way into other cities around the UK. People have written a few things about me:

a demon-eyed and thoroughly broken singer trying to separate shards of God and mutated angels from urban disease....a fascinating performance' venue magazine

'really soulful work' salt.net

'what Bob Dylan would have sounded like had he been on an acid downer his whole career....a slightly more morbid version if you will.........piecing together fragmented torment and destruction; love; loss; addiction and decadence ..the vicous soundtrack of a convential existence' hysteria mag

'larger than life and quite unique his poetry is unusual and clever' bristolrock.co.uk

Come catch me at a gig sometime or buy a CD and help me to stay away from the real world as much as possible. As I said I'll be doing this 'till the day I die so you should be able to fit me in!