Album review: MIKE GUINEY – The Grace of Eloquence

September 5th, 2026 by jason

Bandcamp [Release date 25.06.26]

The jury is out on this I’m afraid. Guiney was born on Newfoundland, Canada’s most easterly island. So pretty remote. His first musical memory is listening to Johnny Cash on an 8 track cartridge, so must have been mid to late 70’s. Lyrics apparently rang a bell with the young Mike. He published (where I don’t know) his first poem at 16 and carried on writing throughout his life. But he never bothered learning to play an instrument until around 2019. This was only prompted by winning three guitars from American Songwriter for lyrics.

Some years later Wolfe Island Records release this, his debut album. I have to say, because so much is made of Guiney’s love for lyrics and the fact he has been writing all his life, it seems strange that there is no lyric booklet with the CD, as you can’t always make out what he saying because of his delivery.

Musically I really like it, the backing led in large part by Chris Brown on organ and piano (Barenaked Ladies, Tragically Hip). This gives the overall sound a brooding dark, gothic feel, similar to Leonard Cohen’s I’m Your Man era. This is particularly obvious on Moonlight On The Water which incorporates some female backing vocals And talking of old Lenny Cohen, Guiney’s vocals sit somewhere in the middle of Leonard Cohen, Willie Nelson and J J Cale.

Some nice atmospheric lead guitar is provided by Tony Sherr, (Norah Jones, Bill Frisell) particularly on Beyond Fate’s Control. This is followed by the upbeat blues, Come Down featuring some cool sax blowing from Jonathan ‘Bunny’ Stewart. The rhythm section is Jason Mercer (Ron Sexsmith, Ani DiFranco) on electric and acoustic bass, which is nicely allowed to cut through space in the arrangements, as he has a great tone. Drums are provided by Pete Bowers. Backing vocals are provided by Sarah McDermott, and Hector Jenkins, while celebrated Canadin blues artist Miss Emily does the duet with Mike on Love Can Be Dangerous.

So why is the jury out? Well for a start a great deal is made of his lyrics, and personally I don’t think this bunch are all that. For somebody who has been writing all his life and has won various competitions, you would have thought he would choose his best ten. I mean they are ok, and probably better than your average Joe could produce, and they carry an aura of innocence, possibly because of his remote location but they are not the stellar words I would expect from the build up. Maybe I expect too much, being a lyric lover myself.

His voice is pleasant enough, if you like Leonard Cohen, which I do, so it sits well in my earlobes. And like I said the music creates some sterling atmospherics and ambience behind Mike, but there isn’t much melody going on in the vocal department. I’ve listened to it many times now and the conclusion I’ve come to is, It’s not great, but it’s not bad. ***

Review by Andy Sharrocks

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