DAVID GRAY

Foundling

[Downtown]

Following the breakup of his longtime backing band, David Gray pursued a new direction on 2009’s Draw the Line. Foundling is a spinoff from those earlier sessions, which found him shuffling off with a small group of essential players and doing solitary takes on songs originally intended for a larger ensemble. Not that this material is stripped down entirely; while selections like “Forgetting,” “The Old Chair” and “When I Was in Your Heart” keep the instrumentation to a minimum, tracks like “Only the Wine,” “In God’s Name” and the album’s rousing crescendo, “Davey Jones’ Locker,” gather support from muffled drums, hints of brass or a scorching slide guitar. The common link is Gray’s determination to peel these offerings back to their emotional core and keep the proceedings as uncluttered as possible. Starker than its predecessor, Foundling is one of Gray’s most affecting efforts yet. –LZ

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