Album title:
Grinder's Monkey
Artist:
Lee Patterson
Label:
Self Released
Seamlessly intertwining moody folk-blues with a smouldering downbeat vocal, Grinder's Monkey could be a lost Van Morrison classic. But with reminiscing tales of intoxication down the docks o' Leith, this tender balladeer lays a lot closer to home. Born in the heart of Auld Reekie's winding streets, Lee Patterson is a naturally animated storyteller. Exuding an innate sense of life's peculiarities, his third LP is awash with the fragments of a contemplative soul. When depicting the world through a haze of raw acoustic strumming and desolate a capellas, Patterson purrs like a preened kitten over the fraught laments of 'To My Knees' and 'Go For A Beer'. Yet when the claws are out this cat fully engages; tearing away at the fleshy joint of Papa Jacques with the gruff tenacity of a rabid Tom Waits. Not renowned for its wealth of singer/songwriters, Edinburgh has finally found a voice in Lee Patterson. [Billy Hamilton]