Robin Guthrie, Sunflower Stories

review by dave heaton

At four songs and under 20 minutes, Sunflower Stories won’t be considered a major work. It’s not going to be rewarded with praise at the level that the Cocteau Twins are, or like many of his more recent solo and collaborative full-lengths should be. Yet it’s deceptively substantial, another strong example of the way Guthrie takes airy easy-listening sounds and weaves them into music with a larger scope and trajectory. These four songs together share a brightness and beauty that makes the “sunflower” part of the title seem exactly right. The “stories” part is relevant, too. Each piece seems to be telling its own tale, from “Petals”, which slowly blooms like the dawning of a thought and then glides on that illumination, to the title track, which quietly, perhaps even sadly, drifts and then claims that ground with assurance. These are simple works in a way, but their impact isn’t simple at all.

{www.darla.com}