Cardiffโs Ivan Moult returns with Stood Out In The Storm, bruised, tender, and reaching for renewal. Out since 7 November via Bubblewrap Collective, the album arrives as the emotional counterpart to Songs From Severn Grove, but with the stakes dialled up.
Moult wrote and recorded everything at home once again, yet this time the walls seem to echo back with a heavier vein. The songs were born from personal upheaval, and you can hear it, in the way his arrangements are stripped to the truth. Moult threads 60s/70s folk, blues and modern textures with the ease of someone who has lived inside these sounds long enough to reshape them from the inside out.
Right from the opener โNo More Lies,โ he establishes enchantment with light, chiming guitar riffs shimmer like early morning light breaking through blinds while rustling drums keep a gentle pace. Moultโs thick, warm voice slips in wearily, still resolutely. He wails and vocalizes with an emotional precision that never overwhelms the melody but deepens every line.
Then the title track โStood Out In The Stormโ brings a softer glow. The guitars glisten, the drums murmur underneath, and Moult sings with a soothing warmth that wraps itself around the refrain. Ever so tenderly he refrains, โShow me a way,โ as he stretches the word way into something luminous held up to the sky with his vibrato proving all the more genuine. Ethereal harmonies hover behind him, gently amplifying the sense of finding shelter in the wreckage.
Later, โWhat Have We Done?โ goes even quieter, and in that quiet the devastation hits harder. Moult sings the titular question with a soft, rueful tone, his voice floating as though carried on wind. With no force and no emphasis, his delivery lands with unnerving weight.
Listen to the phosphorescent pieces from Stood Out In The Storm on Spotify to find hope finding its place alongside agony.
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Review by: Naomi Joan