Sean McCann is co-founder of newfoundland band Great Big Sea (look them up at http://www.greatbigsea.com/) but last February Sean released his first solo release Lullabies for Bloodshot eyes and now Son of a Sailor.
Lullabies for bloodshot eyes was an amazing album, but I have to say this one is even better.
The title track starts the album of. It is a quiet salute to every fisherman and to the lifestyle. It portrays the loss and hardship you have to endure, but also the beauty and pride of the life. The guitar play is soothing and underlines McCann's voice perfectly.
The second song on the album is called Long Road (lead me on) and this song really shows Sean's ability as a lyricist of with lines like, "this highway is a hammer and I am a rusty nail," and this road is an alter and i am her sacrifice." I love the violin in the background and how can you think the little soldier march in the end can be anything but amazing. It really emphasizes that life on the road is not a choice but a calling.
The third song of the album has got a country sound to it, which suits Sean's voice brilliantly as he showed ones before with the Great Big Sea song Good People and it is one of the more upbeat songs on the album. Jeen O'Brein's voice is also put to use perfectly as she backs Sean in this song which at a second listen is not as lighthearted as it might seems, but is still Sean's version of a happy song - which is fine by me. Sean's lyrics wouldn't just right if there weren't a touch of one might say reality to them cause let's face it noone is happy all the time.
The next song Doing Fine, is a bit darker and the last thing this person is, is doing fine. It is a story about a guy who drinks to much and is no longer able to remember what he did the night before, but one also gets the impression that the drinking is only a symptom and not the problem. Once again the Jeen O'Briens vocals does the song justice and she actually makes the song seem sader somehow. On the musical side the song is very stripped down, which is perfect. To many instruments might have taken some of the pain out of Sean's voice.
Soldier's song is the fifth song on the album and it is not the protest song you might think it is. Protest songs are preachy, but Sean somehow made one that isn't. There is no doubt in my mind Sean is against war, but he doesn't say that outload, instead he shows of his ability protray the soldier's emotions by writting the song as a letter home, him missing his wife and fearing the death lurking in the dark. Again the use of the violin helps emphasize the soldier's pain, and so does Sean's voice. The hurt he portrays actually makes the heart hurt.
The Reply is the most amazing song, I've ever heard. The romance and the miracle of a real life lovestory Sean's grandparents lived. I've been impressed by this song and this story form the first time I heard it and as you might remember i have blogged about it before http://mylife-nothingbutasong.blogspot.com/2010/09/cause-he-had-something-to-say.html The song is now a duet between Sean and Jeen o'Brien which only makes the story more beautiful. I love how stripped down Sean have managed to keep it even on the album and how he let the story and their voices speak for themselves.
The 7th song is also a tip of the hat to the sailor lifestyle, but it is way more upbeat than Son of a Sailor and Sean's shows his legacy of as he sounds just like a sailor. The song's got claping and lots of amazing newfoundland intruments and you can just picture him standing on a deck surounded by his boatcrew with their intruments in hand singing away with his first man Alan Doyle by his side (fellow Great Big Sea man, who produced the album and whoms vocals are very easy to recognize in the background of this song). Listen and I promise you you can't help but clap and dance along.
I just love the guitar play in Hard Living Life and the vocal harmonies between Sean McCann and Alan Doyle. The song is about how amazing bachelor life might seem in the beginning. How fun partying might, it gets old and lonely and how the life you once loved can turn on you and no longer be a choice but almost a curse. A great song and very well written.
Once again a very simple song mucicalwise, but the lyrics has multiple layers. On the surface it is a sailor leaving home, fearing if he'll ever be back - but it could also just be about all the goodbyes life offers you. The people you knew but have changed to much for you to recognize them anymore, to all the people that have died, to all the people you've left behind and maybe the one walking into the bloodred sky is not the sailor, but you? An amazing little song and vocally so empressive. Sean sings with such emphaty he makes yor heart bleed for every person you lost in you life.
Back to you is the last song of the album and is one of the album's more upbeat songs and more possitive ones to, maybe because it was co-written with Murray Foster (Great Big Sea basist). It also has a bit of a country sound to it which suits Sean's voice and the song is about not giving up. No matter how hard things might seem it is never to late to return home where the heart truely lies.
Sean McCann has managed to pick 10 beautiful, but very different song and still make the album sound as a whole, by using strings, madolins and guitar. Sean's got an amazing ability to bring his listeners into the song with him and he brought me a long for 10 amazing stories and let me feel every feeling I ever felt my life in the matter half an hour. Well done Mr. McCann - well done!
If you wanna give the songs a listen or maybe even buy them do so here: http://greatbigsean.com/site/
So I'll just say goodnight with this song:
Earlier today I tweeted my last review to Grimes and told him I would be doing this review too and he kindly reminded me to consider that this album is a demo record done in his livingroom and so I will do just that. 
