Product Description

Follow-up to 2002's critically acclaimed album 'A New Day At Midnight' from singer-songwriter David Gray. Produced by Marius De Vries (U2, David Bowie), the album was recorded between autumn 2003 and spring 2005. Gray again delivers passionate piano-led soft rock here, assisted by more than fifty musicians in total. The single 'One I Love' is included.

Track Listing

1. Alibi
2. The One I Love
3. Lately
4. Nos Da Cariad
5. Slow Motion
6. From Here You Can Almost See The Sea
7. Ain't No Love
8. Hospital Food
9. Now and Always
10. Disappearing World

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1324 in Music
• Released on: 2005-09-12
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Amazon.co.uk Review
While it's truistic to state that success breeds success, for his seventh album, Life In Slow Motion, David Gray appears creditably disinclined to exploit the mainstream global success of White Ladder by languidly adhering to any prescripted expectations.

Evidently not one for squatting on his laurels--years of pre-fame self-sufficiency has seen to that--Gray has toiled towards new horizons, drafting in an external producer for the first time. Marius De Vries, whose duties grace the more recent works of Bjork, Madonna and Rufus Wainwright, adds a more poetic dimension to such Thomas Hardy-esque musical landscapes as "Now And Always" and "Nos Da Cariad", where the negligibility of human emotion is contrasted with the raw omnipotence of the environment and the succinct brutality of existence. Not that Gray is a total mope; "The One I Love"--a paean to life expressed through the lips of a dying battlefield casualty--is a fine, if anomalistic, pop song in the Springsteen tradition and the cinematic sweetness of "Alibi" disguises its hair-tearing, long-distance estrangement in one of Gray's more superlative radio friendly tunes.

Life In Slow Motion might well be David Gray's darkest hour yet but for homogeneity, ambition and self-expression it's also his most realised record by some distance. --Kevin Maidment

More to Explore
A New Day at Midnight (CD)	White Ladder (CD)	David Gray - Live (DVD)	A Way of Life (DVD)
Find more from David Gray

From the Label
Recorded between October 2003 and May 2005, David took a different approach to writing and recording Life In Slow Motion. Of the change, David says, "I don’t think you can remain the underdog forever and work in that way. I really wanted to get away from that lo-fi bedroom programming. All the records that have inspired me this time have been far more of a soundscape. The Sigur Ros records, Sparklehorse’s It’s A Wonderful Life, Lucinda Williams’ World Without Tears and albums like Deserter’s Songs, where things are more architectural." From the sparse, structured intro of the opener, "Alibi", a song David describes as ‘like "Babylon" Part 2 but more abstract... catching up with the character a few years down the line when they’re a bit worse for wear,’ to "The One I Love", as beautiful a song about bleeding to death as you’re ever likely to hear, and the inspirational fire of "Nos Da Cariad" (Welsh for ‘Goodnight Sweetheart’) it’s clear that Life In Slow Motion is a distinct departure from his earlier work. Two compositions on Life In Slow Motion - "From Here You Can Almost See The Sea" and "Ain’t No Love"--come from David’s work on the soundtrack for Amma Assante’s debut film A Way Of Life (released in 2004). The songs landed David a 2005 BAFTA Anthony Asquith Award nomination for Best New British Composer.

Customer Reviews

Back Up To Speed
If this is life in Slow Motion, then this is the speed I want to enjoy it at. A great album full of wonderful melodic and distinctive David Gray songs.

Having had a huge success with White Ladder it was never going to be easy following it up. A "New Day at Midnight" was good, but having already set the standard, it suffered in comparison to "White Ladder".

However, "Slow Motion" is bang on target and proves as delightful and durable as his earlier achievement. This is a bolder and more confident offering from Gray. He has brought in wonderful orchestral arrangements and used them to great effect. The songs are grander and superbly crafted. After just one listen you are hooked by the beautiful tunes that he has weaved together to make this such a strong return to form.

His voice and use of instrumentation is a further sign of an artist maturing and feeling more comfortable about his fame and status. The more confident and relaxed he becomes, the more he writes from the heart and not for the commercial market. Ironically, however, as a result of this confidence, he ends up with the quality of material that makes him more commercial once again. A strange twist to the cycle!!

"Alibi", "The One I Love" and "Hospital Food" seem to be on most people's list of favourites, but all tracks are excellent. For the benefit of non-Welsh speakers, "Nos Da Cariad" simply means goodnight my loved one.

This album I love and play on a regular basis. It lifts me and gets me singing along in a joyous fashion. 10/10 in my book.

This is a great Sunday afternoon album
I agree with another reviewer - this album is better than New Day at Midnight, it's very close to bing as good as White Ladder, which is also one of my favourite albums ever. If ever I can't decide what to play, David Gray is always an excellent choice whatever mood I'm in. This album is also great to have on when you have friends over for dinner, it's beautiful and not too intrusive.[...]

Yet another great album
Every David Gray album I buy (and I've bought all of them since way back) takes a while to fully reveal itself to me. You may need to listen to them a few times to really get into them and it's the same with Life In Slow Motion. I don't mean to say that it is difficult to get into or you need to force yourself. It's just that each album is different from the previous one that it surprises you. His songwriting is, as usual, amazing and his voice is to die for, full of emotion. There is so much going on that you hear something new each time you hear the album. Every song is perfectly crafted, musical heaven with harmonies and melodies and interesting time signatures. His best yet in my opinion (better than White Ladder).