‘Feeler’ by Pete Murray

‘Feeler’ is the first real album by Australian artist Pete Murray. A singer, songwriter and guitarist, it would be tempting and easy to dismiss Murray as part of an already-crowded area of music, but to do so would be to overlook a real talent.

The most obvious reference point for those unfamiliar with Murray’s work would be Jack Johnson. Both artists write straightforward pop-rock songs predominantly based around the acoustic guitar, and washed with lashings of sun. However, Murray’s music is, by production if nothing else, a little more layered than Johnsons, giving a stronger role to other instruments. Despite this, the comparison is fair – fans of one will certainly find something to enjoy in the other.

The first track, ‘Feeler’, is enough to draw you into this album. By the time track two, ‘Bail Me Out’, is half way through, you’re hooked. From there on in, you pretty much know what to expect, but not in a bad way. ‘So Beautiful’ is, as you would imagine, the slow album’s key romantic track, and it tends very slightly towards over-sentimentality, but it’s balanced well by ‘Lines’ which has much more bite. ‘Freedom’ is an effective solo piece, good in its own right, but valuably demonstrating some diversity of sound at the album’s mid-point.

From this point onwards, there are no real surprises, but the quality holds out to the end, making this a thoroughly decent album.