Dog Eared Days By James Filkins

 

Dog Eared Days

By

James Filkins

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

I still remember fondly my first album from the artist, Cranes in the Moonlight released back in 2023, after a few hit singles before that, and I remember being impressed by its acoustic contents, here just three years later James Filkins has marched on relentless and in my view produced his best work yet on his latest release called Dog Eared Days. This 13 track vast body of acoustic guitar work with added instrumentation is a wondrous step forwards for the musician.

The journey begins with the melodic and memorable A Place In the Sun ft. Stephen Wake, who actually takes the lead on this reflective but upbeat opening offering, and the dualistic symbiosis of both guitars creates a deeply felt energy for the listener to enjoy.

On Gratitude we have a more spacious offering, this one I really liked as it gave the listener room to breathe and wander within its realms, at times it also retained a slight minimalistic feel, but one that floated with the cadence of the day, and is a fine example of really a good acoustic guitar performance.

We can drift into the arms of our next composition called House Cleaning ft Sav Madigan & Katie Larson, this is one of the most beautiful pieces from the release. The violin of Madigan brings to the table a mournful repose whilst the cello of Larson doubly so, this incredible arrangement of three different stringed instruments gifts the listener something truly blissful to swim within.

Cat Head Bay ft. Zak Leger is up next, this is a more light hearted reverie, one that reminds me of another us guitarist in the US called Chris Haugen, back to the track, Leger on the interesting combination of whistle and accordion, adds a special and unique flavour to the overall narrative of the composition, one that manifests a little Celtic feel within the weave of the creation as well.

We can peak now at Gravity and Intertia, this is an inventive Filkins, slapping the wires and adding pertinent harmonics, something I used to love to do, this stylish solo effort is both exploratory and fun, whilst Dog Eared Days ft. Michael Manring is a bitter sweet melody for me, having been a former dog owner until December of ‘25, but including Manring on Fretless bass to Filkins spacious and loving guitar, I felt quite was cathartic and healing for those of us that have lost a four legged family member.

However one of my favourite’s tracks from the album was the light and sun kissed reverie of Rose and Hummingbird ft. Luis Vilca & Jeff Haynes, which I believe was the last single from the artist as well, the beautiful fingerstyle guitar, with added flute of Luis Vilca, and the delicate percussion of Jeff Haynes manifested both a memorable and a very addictive melodic offering indeed.

One step into the latter half of the album and we will find Purpose, a solo effort from the artist that has a little extra depth and grace, one that shows a great example of both chords, lower string usage and tone, then on Leelanau Lullaby ft. Christina Karakos, Sav Madigan & Katie Larson, we can add the skill set of the viola of Karakos into the weave, so we now have four different stringed instruments building upon each other for one of the most technically brilliant arrangements off the album.

Time for another slice of acoustic magic from Filkins with the creation Joie De Vivre, a charming song written with a lot of tenderness and love, which if my French stands the test of time means joy of living! This is the shortest piece off the release, but one of the sweetest, which allows us to transition to the offering Witch Hazel, a more folk based narrative, with some quite crisp finger picking, and a sensitive overall refrain.

The penultimate creation is entitled Cardinal Serenade ft. Alice Roberts, here the harp of Roberts doesn’t just add an extra layer to the compositional structure of the track, but manifests a lush juxtaposition of tone and timbre light and dark, shadow and sun, in one of the most artistic tracks on the album, and another personal favourite of mine.

We conclude our journey with James with this last arrangement called Arboreal Glen, again that Celtic lilt is added by Aaron Dolan on the whistle in a fine parting gift from the composer, reminding me of the music of Bill Wren and Frank Ralls from back in the day, but regardless a brilliant ending to a sublime release.

Now you have probably heard this before by other writers, but I am far from being disingenuous when I state that Dog Eared Days by James Filkins is the best work thus far by the artist, in fact I am one of the few music writers around, that you know when I say this, I actually mean it, this  album is a real treat to listen to, one could leave it on repeat and simply just enjoy it over and again, this is why I believe that the care and attention to detail that the artist has put into his work on this album will achieve rewards, and I am sure a pretty good chart position for Dog Eared Days by James Filkins as well.