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This album is very much a family affair as various members of the Archer and Kaufmann families contribute their talents to Iain Archer songs but they are very much bit part players as a singer, guitarist and songwriter, Archer is the star of the show.

He has left behind the indie rock of his previous band The Reindeer Section, collaborations with Snow Patrol and earlier solo albums Flood The Tanks and Magnetic North but not of his songwriting talents (he picked up an Ivor Novello with Snow Patrol) as he gets folksy in the forest.

Originally brought up in the seaside town of Bangor, by comparison, the Black Forest must seem very dark and clostrophibic. Archer says he got obsessed with his father-in-laws observation “the forest is very close today”. And you can imagine what he’s getting at but the nine track album doesn’t come over as particularly dark or menising. Even the fragile love song of ‘Frozen Lake’ doesn’t crack as warm strings make it a stand-out track.

He’s going on tour with Snow Patrol and ‘Frozen Lake’ is the type of track that the crowd just talk over and totally miss the moment or, hopefully, it stops the show; give the guy some respect and be prepared to be impressed.

But this isn’t a one track album, ‘Streamer On A Kite’ has a 60s West Coast feel to it lyrically and musically and ‘Songbird’ is a lovely Sunday afternoon feel of a song that takes after an acoustic Neil Young. Miriam Kaufmann joins in a couple of times on harmonium which reminds me of Eighteenth Day Of May but this is not a ‘band’ album even when Iain is joined by drums and double bass on ‘Black Mountain Quarry’ and ‘Everest’; there’s also something of solo John Martyn (RIP) here (‘The Nightwatchman’) or a more experienced Jack Cheshire, niether of which can be a bad thing.

A bit of a grower this album and I keep coming back to ‘Frozen Lake’ - he sings “I wanna be someone who makes you feel beatiful, I wanna be someone who covers you with love”. And love the cover illustration of the flock of birds by Rob Petter and you can imagine that they are flying off to the pine roots (or from the frozen lake). Let Iain Archer cover you with love, it’s a beautiful album man.

Forthcoming Gigs:
19 March, 2009 Odyssey Arena Belfast (with Snow Patrol)
21 March 2009 Whelans Dublin, Dublin
22 March 2009 Sandino’s Derry, NI
23 March 2009 Odyssey Arena (with Snow Patrol)
01 April 2009 To The Pine Roots album launch with support from The New York Fund, first on tbc (hopefully Foreign Slippers!) tickets by searching Iain Archer www.gigsandtours.com Bush Hall, 310 Uxbridge Road London W12 7LJ, London £10

Reviewed: Iain Archer - To The Pine Roots (Black Records) Cat. No: WDCT1 Release date: 23rd March 2009
Notes: Recorded and mixed in Bad Krozingen, Im Rheintal, Germany. Additional recording and mixing in London, UK.
Double Bass by Jon Kensington (tracks: 2, 3, 5, 7)
Drums by Phil Wilkinson (tracks: 3, 5, 7)
Tracklisting:
1 The Acrobat (3:39) Vocals, Harmonium - Miriam Kaufmann
2 Songbird (3:56) feat. Iain Archer on Organ
3 Black Mountain Quarry (3:18) Additional vocals Miriam Kaufmann
4 Hey Mia, Don’t Be Lonely (4:19) Harmonium by Miriam Kaufmann
5 Everest (8:04) additional vocals Helmut Kaufmann, Dan Kaufmann, Lucy Kaufmann, Elizabeth Kaufmann, Paul Archer, Miriam Kaufmann
6 Frozen Lake (5:08) Electric Piano [Rhodes] by Miriam Kaufmann, Strings - Oliver Kraus
7 Streamer On A Kite (4:09) feat. Iain Archer on Organ
8 To Mend And Move Along (3:34) feat. Autoharp by Iain Archer and additional vocals Helmut Kaufmann, Elizabeth Kaufmann, Miriam Kaufmann & Peter Wilson
9 The Nightwatchman (3:33)

Links:
www.iainarcher.co.uk
www.myspace.com/iainarcher
www.blackrecordindustries.co.uk
www.snowpatrol.com
www.myspace.com/snowpatrol