Blabbermouth
London, England, United Kingdom
Music
Press
The folk scene in London is exploding so fast, I'm wary of any new artist that can be called a folk singer/songwriter. I'm wary of earnestness and old fashionedness. I'm wary of singers that are stuck in some olde world, insular to the real world of people and language.
Blabbermouth (AKA Steve Thompson) could be called folk, but to do so limits his scope. His songs, dominated by laid back acoustic guitar and excitable banjo, are punctuated with funny barbs and over-arching irony. Singing like early Neil Young, he sings with the duplicity of emotional seriousness and grins to the punch line only you know.
On his new album, My Dancing Heart, he tackles the staple subjects of love, death and furniture buying dilemmas. Four Foot Death relates a conversation with the Grim Reaper, who comes across like an irate call centre worker; while Domestic Bliss contrasts home improvement with some kind of Hitchcockian murder plot. There are songs about decaying relationship and the mini dramas of everyday actions. Thompson writes lyrics with dark twists that take the songs in directions unexpected.
My Dancing Heart also feels like an album in the old sense. There are motifs that repeat on several songs, such as food (melons, tapas, bubblegum, sausages), and a track order that is put together to account for life's lifting and drifting moods.
Blabbermouth has a easy clean sound. Each song on the album is crafted by a person living in the real world that invites everyone to explore and gives time to think on. - MUsic News - reviewer: Kwok W Wan
Discography
My Dancing Heart - Hobgoblin Records - Jan 08
Played on BBC, Folk Radio and various national radio stations...
Photos
Bio
Blabbermouth 'aka' Steve Thompson has been writing and performing his unique style of folk music for as long as he can remember. He graduated at Middlesex University in 1996 with a Degree in Fine Art; struggling to be an 'artist' in the city he buried his paintbrushes and bought himself a 12-string guitar with a £250 casino win.
Since then he's never looked back; he fronted a number of bands for a number of years and although the guitar has since been traded in for rent; his talent, wit and love of songwriting has flourished.
Armed with a banjo, 6-string guitar, a percussionist and a bassist; Blabbermouth went to war against the hum drum mediocrity of the acoustic world. Troubadour Venue Manager Amanda Glyn wrote this about him :
"Original, refreshing, off-kilter and talented BLABBERMOUTH'S set is by turns hilarious, anthemic, surreal and delightful. Day to day observations are dished up with deadpan humour, and philosophical issues revamped so that even the prospect of your own death seems like a good laugh. If Eddie Izzard could sing and play guitar this is what you might expect."
Two years ago he met producer Ian Shaw and recorded a couple of top quality demos to upload on myspace and distribute to record companies across the globe; it wasn't long before he found Hobgoblin Records and signed an album deal.
Since signing with Hobgoblin; Blabbermouth has performed at many reputable Folk Festivals including The Crawley Folk Festival supporting Seth Lakeman and the main stage at The Sidmouth Folk Festival where he wowed the capacity crowd with his banter and uncompromising songwriting.
"My Dancing Heart" was recorded with Ian Shaw and released January this year, it is stocked in-store at HMV and is available to purchase online at AMAZON and PLAY.COM amongst many other outlets; it has recently been made available for download after many requests.
ROCK N REEL - DAI JEFFRIES
"****"
"Thompson writes idiosyncratic lyrics and clever tunes and has such a preoccupation with death that I didn’t always believe what I heard."
"A model of clarity, smooth and uncluttered"
"A very impressive debut."
MUSIC-NEWS.COM - KWOK W WAN
"****"
"Singing like early Neil Young, he sings with the duplicity of emotional seriousness and grins to the punch line only you know."
"Blabbermouth has an easy clean sound. Each song on the album is crafted by a person living in the real world that invites everyone to explore and gives time to think on."
MUSIC MAKER - PAUL BRETT
"Clear vocals, well written. Musical arrangements compliment Blabber’s songs and use throughout of a banjo sits well in the mix."
"Good sympathetic balances and nicely produced throughout."
MARDLES - MARY HUMPHREYS
"Blabbermouth sounds rather like a modern-day Donovan, having a light effortlessy tuneful voice"
"He writes some very appealing tunes"
LIVING TRADITION - GREM DEVLIN
"It can be a refreshing change these days to encounter a humourous singer-songwriter whose material doesn’t shout DERIVITIVE at the listener"
NETRHYTHMS - DAVID KIDMAN
"A very attractive little pop-folk confection with a tangy centre"
"a quality of understated eeriness in the instrumental accompaniments is very effective"
"Amnesia is another satisfying Blabbermouth creation, as much for the power of the imagery as for its relative musical starkness"
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