I don’t think I’m breaking any new ground here, but here’s someone I’ve come across, who's well worth a look-see…

David Thomas Broughton

David Thomas Broughton is a guitarist and song writer, from Leeds, a singer-songwriter, if you will. If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you may remember that I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with singer-songwriters, generally being bored to tears by many of that ilk, but I have to admit that there are enough performers who do manage to grab my attention. I still think it’s still quite a trick, to sit in front of an audience (or a recording mike) with just voice and strings, and actually stand out from the rest, making yourself sound interesting and exciting. But anyway, David Thomas Broughton certainly does it.

If you do a bit of Googling for the name, you’ll not be clicking long before you see comparison made with Anthony and the Johnsons. I try not to do this, but you can’t ignore the similarities between both their voices. Broughton’s voice is definitely from the same packetas Hegarty’s even if the accompaniments are quite different. It’s a haunting powerful voice that you’ll want to hear more of.

I think what also helps Broughton’s recordings to stand out is the fact that he uses loop pedals really cleverly to build up quite a large but often unsettlingly disjointed sound. If Ignatz is an ultra modern (can I say “post-industrial”?) blues player soaking himself in static and distortion, then David Thomas Broughton is definitely a folk-blues cousin, treating his songs with a similar jarring touch.

Broughton has two albums out on Birdwar Records, the beautiful but tainted “The Complete Guide to Insufficiency”, which was recorded in one long take in a church in Leeds, and a newer release “It’s In There Somewhere”, which was released in March this year, and is I believe a collection of songs from the last six years.

I can only find one track available for download, which comes from his Myspace page, and unfortunately it’s a live recording which is pretty hissy, but which is still worth sticking with. From there, I’d really recommend getting the albums. And then, if you’re cool enough to have a Green Man ticket, you’re in... You’ll be able to catch him at the Green Man Café on the Sunday. See you there.

Another Hole


There are, however, a bunch of YouTube clips of the guy, and here’s one of them, (see you at Green Man…)