David Hurn: The Beautiful Trustful Future

David Hurn is a singer-songwriter but he has a voice that might be enjoyable to some but rather irritating to others. With the typical British lilt emanating from most of his lyrics, the performer warbles his way through the average opener “Arrival” which doesn’t quite grab the listener’s attention. Fans of American Music Club, which Hurn has opened for on occasion, would enjoy the rather somber, maudlin tunes such as “Our Small Deaths”, not exactly an uplifting ditty. Even Morrissey comes to mind when Hurn does the somewhat pop, somewhat jazzy “Gone Too Soon” with its subtle but effective horn accents. The spacey, Floyd-ian “The Man Who Stayed In Bed” brings to mind “Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast” but Hurn reins the song in about a minute in. Probably the only real gem here is the soft but interesting stream-of-conscious ramble Hurn delivers on the gentle, Travis-ish “Above The Volume”. Another keeper is “Weekly Class” that comes across like a great tune by The Beautiful South. Meanwhile, the closing title track could be something that Damon Albarn did when he still believed in Blur.