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William Fitzsimmons The Sparrow And the Crow on Entertainmentfocus.com


01 November 2009
Entertainment Focus.com
Greg

Read the full review HERE

William Fitzsimmons is an Illinois-based singer-songwriter, whose third album, The Sparrow and the Crow, has gone in at number two in the iTunes Top Folk Albums chart. It is his first studio-produced album, the first two being home-recorded. Already he has gathered quite a following of fans, as knowledge of his earlier albums, Until When We Are Ghosts and Goodnight, has spread through word of mouth, and from exposure on television through use as backing music in hit shows.

There's a great gentleness at the heart of The Sparrow and the Crow in the wispiness of the vocals and the acoustic guitar; but this does not hide the many layers of melancholy and despair. There is beauty in stark reality, and Fitzsimmons finds it.

The Sparrow and the Crow is certainly a very strong album from a talented singer-songwriter. It is unremittingly intense, full of regret and despair, and this can make it wearing to listen to. Fitzsimmons's vocals remain gentle, spectral and touching throughout. It's not an album to play to lift the mood; but rather one to get lost in, and to enjoy for its fragile beauty, and for the musician's ability to turn pain and suffering into the most exquisite sounds.


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