TIGER MOTH TALES
The Turning Of The World WHITE KNIGHT
Adroit all-rounder crafts charming opus.
As a versatile musician who plays for Camel and Cyan among others, Peter Jones has long proven his uncommon ability. It’s on his own project, as Tiger Moth Tales, where his songwriting talent comes to the fore, and this might be his most agreeable album yet. Some of his earlier work has bordered on being too sweet or ornate, but here, while good nature still emanates from every line, there’s a restraint which allows the songcraft to do the heavy lifting, and if melancholy sometimes fleetingly invades the sunny optimism, then so be it. His rich voice retains a husky, very Peter Gabriel base note, and the mid-period Genesis prog structures of the title track or The Snail, The Horse And The River transmit their compassion tranquilly. Stories of lost friends and family who have passed away are conveyed simply but effectively, while as counterbalance the joy of the everyday shines through So Wonderful To Be Alive and the saxophone-tinged The Beautiful People. Instrumental flourishes, when they come, are impressive without lapsing into ostentation, and the Bread-like soft rock of All I Need Today makes light of the end of the world. Absorbing.