The glorious cover of this record tells you a lot about the contents, for Mark Barrott has written an album of lush sonic colours that completely soothes the mind and soul – the ideal preparation for a night out or to soothe in the early morning. While the music itself is beautifully structured and arranged, Barrott using in his words ‘weird percussion, some slide guitars and a few borrowed synths’, the winning card is played with what sounds like the addition of field recordings of birds. On paper this sounds like a tired new age technique but in practise it sounds lovely, half way down in the mix and giving a outdoors feel to the music. Sketches these may be, but they are really nicely realised into musical paintings that prove to be almost as vivid as the cover.
4 out of 5
Reviewed By Ben Hogwood
{http://soundcloud.com/international-feel/sets/mark-barrott-sketches-from-an}
