Morning Star

Morning Star is the solo project of David Vernon, late of the Moonflowers, and it turns out to be a bit of a transformation from those earlier, poppier days. This time round, he's decided to embrace both jazz and Latin music to produce a heavily orchestrated jewel of an album. One of the closest reference points would be Ben Watt (of Everything But The Girl), whose solo records also have that loose, jazzy feel to them - the Cole Porter cover ("What Is This Thing Called Love") is a dead giveaway about those shared influences. But it isn't quite as simple as that, because a few tracks head off into country and blues territory, making it feel like there's more to the album than those initial tracks suggest. The entire album slides along with such a mellow, laid-back groove that it never grates on your ears. Morning Star is a lush album that will appeal to anyone looking for something a little bit more sophisticated than the usual suspects provide.