Meet Leonard. He’s twenty-five- not just his age, it’s the number of pounds he’s put on per year since he left school. He can have any girl he wants; that is to say he has a computer. One day he’ll take a wife- a cousin, naturally- but she'll accepts him for who he is, warts and all; the ‘all’ in this case being that he's tattooed all seven members of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd on his face.
And he’s black.
Now, say goodbye to Leonard. Don’t exert yourself, he doesn’t exist. Leonard is a statistical improbability, a character so unlikely it’s safe to assume he doesn’t exist. And, were I to paint a portrait of Peter Wilson, addressed in public as Duke Special, you’d be forgiven for making the same assumption. Duke Special’s walked a road rarely trodden to get where he is today. The dreadlocked and eyelined Northern Irelander is on the brink of breaking the UK pop charts with his V2 debut
Songs From The Deep Forest, a record which results from a most unusual combination of influences, made all the more unique by how readily enjoyable it is.
For a number of years now, the Belfast-based, Lisburn-born Duke has travelled the length of Ireland and Britain, plying his trade with a variety of accompanying players. Sounds unusual? Probably not (although convincing Irish people to like good music is often a challenge of its own), but what if I told you that by players, I meant
gramophone players? No joke. In the absence of a regular band, Special has often performed and recorded solo piano with the hiss of a record as his backing track. And it’s more than just a gimmick- with a style that owes as much to vaudeville and music hall than it does to more modern influences, the antiquated player is as much an instrument of the theatre of musical performance as the masks and jumpsuits are for Slipknot or the half-naked girls swinging from the rafters and eating fire from between their toes are for Mötley Crüe.
What truly makes Duke Special one of a kind, however, is the entirely unconventional route he took to becoming a musician. Adhering to a strict form of Protestantism from an early age, Duke aged fourteen took to heart one particularly reactionary teaching and promptly burned his more liberal sister’s collection of Eagles records-
even the good ones. Thankfully, he mellowed and began to seek out music for himself- not only did he discover popular artists like
Joe Jackson and
Elvis Costello, but also less well-known songwriters who struggled with the same issues of faith and religion as himself- the sound of folkie
Randy Stonehill is particularly close to his own. Later still, he discovered
Tom Waits and
Rufus Wainwright- the two contemporary artists whose influence is probably most apparent in his work.
I became a fan after watching the Duke perform on the (Irish television station) RTÉ concert series
Other Voices and so, apparently, did many others; on the season finale composite show, viewers voted Duke’s as the number one performance they’d like to see again, beating out the likes of Rufus and Martha Wainwright, James Blunt and the
Trashcan Sinatras as well as home-grown heroes Bell X1 and Horslips.
Songs From The Deep Forest is technically Duke Special’s second album, however 2005’s
Adventures In Gramophone was written, if not recorded, as two separate EPs over the previous year.
Songs From The Deep Forest, aside from three stayovers which were re-recorded in a style befitting the record, was recorded as an album of new material.
Songs From The Deep Forest is essentially the realisation, or semi-realisation, of a sound Duke Special aimed for with
Adventures In Gramophone, but circumstance meant he couldn’t fully reach. The same basic structure exists: the songs routinely traverses the grey area that separates jazz from blues and ragtime, adding the melodic sensabilities of classic pop and folk music. The earlier record made use of a wide variety of instruments and instrumentalists, but it seems he and producer Paul Wilkinson didn’t have the luxury of the time or the means to work out anything more than basic arrangements.
Songs From The Deep Forest is a considerably more busy record, more tuned to Rufus Wainwright’s
Want series than
Elliott Smith, yet still very much a distinct sound.
As important as the arrangements are, the most striking element of Duke’s sound is his singing voice; he sings with a velvety but very noticeable Belfast accent, curling his vowels in a manner that brings to mind Morrissey or, once again, Rufus Wainwright, though Special is not as talented a vocalist as the latter. On
Adventures In Gramophone, this wasn’t an issue; his vocals were always the main focus and, as such, his imperfections added to his charm and the considerable emotional depth in his voice. The far more involved arrangements of
Songs From The Deep Forest change the dynamic considerably, demanding Duke step up his game to cut above the mix and achieve the same level of expression.
On a number of tracks, he succeeds in this. Duke has clearly improved as a vocalist in the intervening year, as the three re-recorded tracks are well-suited to demonstrate. Both ‘Wake Up Scarlett’ and ‘Freewheel’ have been beefed up with orchestral accompaniment; the latter sees the singer sound more delicate and fragile than ever as he sings,
’I don’t wanna stand still, I just wanna freewheel’ and on the former Special expertly straddles the line between whimsy and extreme guilt as he sings the lines,
’Did I steal your sense of wonder, innocence and sight? I’m strung up like a highwayman who didn’t get it right.’
The other stayover ‘Last Night I Nearly Died’ tells an altogether different story, however. Whereas ‘Freewheel’ manages to avoid sounding trite by virtue of a sincerely emotive vocal, the heavy arrangement here overwhelms the singer, who drowns under the weight of strings, piano and clarinet, a melodic overload. In many ways, it’s the perfect choice for a first single, but considering it was one of the standout tracks on his previous collection, it’s disappointing to hear it so flat this time around. ‘Ballad of a Broken Man’ and ‘Salvation Tambourine’ suffer from the same problem at points, but they're far weaker melodically, ending up closer to (gulp) Keane territory than the outstanding artists already mentioned.
Elsewhere, highlights are easy to pick out. ‘Everybody Wants a Little Something’ and former single ‘Portrait’ come across like a less violent
Dresden Dolls, as if Amanda Palmer actually
liked her piano. ‘Everybody Wants a Little Something’ is lyrically cute, taking a sly dig at overnight superstars,
’I don’t get these pop and idol shows; everybody knows that the good things take a little longer,’ but nonetheless raising an interesting point. ‘This Could Be My Last Day’ is a beautiful closer, expressing the recurring theme of lost innocence (
’You were full of living colours and such a sense of wonder’) and the fragility of life as he mourns a lost loved one,
’I wish I could have saved you but I think I’m going under … this could be my last day.’
I do find
Songs From The Deep Forest to be something of a disappointment, however I do qualify the remark. The songs are expertly crafted; these are songs that were written not just to house elaborate arrangements but also to be performed solo.
Songs From The Deep Forest could never be considered a bad record, only an album that failed to live up to overwhelming promise; in that sense it’s merely a slight misstep on the path to greatness, and a slight disappointment in this case is still a wonderful record. As Duke himself says,
’[We’ve] only got this morning to live.’
