Peter Oren gives the impression of a man plucked out of the smokey bars of the grassroots folk movement of the 60's and flung into the millennial world of today. Every inch a train-hopping, world-weary, hitchhiking modern day troubadour. The promotional images of his large frame in workers clothes and old sheds fit his on-the-road Americana lyricism, spun through his warm, rich baritone.
What a beautiful voice it is too. Calling to mind the likes of Leonard Cohen and Bill Callaghan, it flows like honey over the gentle strum of his guitar. Anthropocene is Oren's latest album and this, the title track, encapsulates Oren's sound and inclinations perfectly. Ideas of being lost in the world and restless escape realize his ideas over steady acoustic guitar and piano, before releasing into a gorgeous string arrangement to close out the track.
"How will we escape this hell we've made?" is the question he asks again and again over the song's saunter. No prizes for guessing his meaning, a harsh look at the world human's have created in our new epoch. But it's done over with such lovely and gentle music, you get the sense artists like Oren are where that escape lie. Anthropocene is out now through Western Vinyl.
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