Johnny Flynn - Been Listening

Johnny Flynn burst onto the new folk scene a couple of years ago joined by a ramshackle band of cohorts - 'The Sussex Wit' - to release a debut album that, while enjoyable on its own merits, surely signified greater things to come, greater things which have most definitely arrived in the form of Been Listening. Today, Flynn has dropped ‘The Sussex Wit’ from his official title, yet retained them as his live band, and upon hearing the new record, it’s clear that this newly pared down name hasn’t been the starkest change in his musical development. The Wit may be gone from the title at least, but the staggeringly complex and intricate melodies they lend ensure that they are far from forgotten. Instead the development simply goes to show what a difference a year or two can make.

The progress Flynn has managed to make is truly remarkable, leading to an album infused with a maturity and tinged with an undeniable melancholy that belies his tender age, while also encompassing the big, bold sound that was previously only hinted at. The plucky young Londoner may have shied away from such diverse arrangements in the past, but here he is embracing them - it is clear that the range of material Johnny actually has 'been listening' to extends far beyond the scope of his piers.

The follow-up to A Larum begins with a song that is sure to be soundtracking a barndance near you very soon, the rollicking recent single ‘Kentucky Pill’. Flynn achieves a perfectly honed, tightly orchestrated melody that actually sounds something akin to Vampire Weekend, if the New Yorkers were to take their instrumental cues from Mumford & Sons. The jaunty strings of the first song aren’t the only element of this album which could be said to be shared with the former band, however, as on songs such as ‘Churlish May’, an undercurrent of afrobeat ensures that the record is just as easy to bop along to as it is on the ears. For all the wistful nostalgia and ostensible simplicity of the lyrical narrative (cow tipping, anyone?) the ex-actor weaves a compelling tale, nothing if not enigmatic as he croons his was through a serious of troubled reflections, musings and riddles, bemoaning his, "fistful of questions, with not an answer to hand."

While an endearing core of quintessential Englishness lends grounding to the album, it is evident that it also encapsulates rhythms from much further afield, the keening, slightly discordant violins of ‘Sweet William’ almost reminiscent of Gogol Bordello (if somewhat toned down). On ‘The Water’, a duet with long time friend and that other beguiling singer-songwriter, Laura Marling, Flynn’s voice compliments his collaborator’s beautifully, the resulting almost-ballad more than proving the two worthy of the title of ‘Poster boy and girl of new folk’. If A Larum heralded the arrival of a bright new star on the London folk scene, ‘Been Listening’ must, doubtlessly, secure Flynn’s place on a wider stage. With any luck, we’ll still be listening to him for some time to come.