In the first ten seconds of the song Human that opens this same titled album, you will figure out everything you need to know about the man who stands behind the artistic alias Rag ‘n’ Bone Man. This guy sounds like the lost recording of some Balkan musician, or as a tortured African American soul who still didn’t find out that abolition is over. Still, Rag’n’Bone Man is neither of those. He is a bearded, chunky British guy named Rory Graham who feels the blues as If he was born in Mississippi.
Human is the name of Graham’s debut, and Human is also the name of the single that you must have heard if you turned the radio on in the past few months. The song has an anachronic quality, as it seems like it was written hundred years ago. It’s as If Graham has heard the song one Sunday afternoon when he decided to surprise his grandfather and have lunch with him. I am pretty sure this song already secured an apartment and retirement fond to Graham.
The rest of the record does not keep up with its beginning, although Innocent Man, Skin, Be The Man and Arrow (with clear Barry White associations) prove that Human is not just a coincidence. The main problem with the album is that we have seen and heard a receipt for it many times before. It’s a British pop-soul-blues school on the trace of Adele, George Ezra, John Newman and Sam Smith. Powerhouse vocal, strong blues base, sparkles of gospel and soul converge into a mellow and melodic album bursting from interesting numbers made for topping chart. The author’s lack of consistency is expected, as he was constructing the mosaic of his debut over the course of several years.
However, this is a debut, so I am not going to be very harsh. It’s biggest advantage is that the producers did not bother to produce it in a modern way, and they rather accentuated Graham’s vocal interpretation. Production usually hinders singers, so this is a big plus. The closing track Die Easy hints the kind of record Graham could create in the future – no commercial aspiration, no production; only vocal and emotion.
No matter the inconsistency, it is nice to see Human in the mainstream mountains, climbing the charts.
