Paul Greene – Distance Over Time

Distance Over Time – Paul Greene

by Aidan Roberts

Paul Greene has a good track record – a well-respected local instrumentalist and singer, long in the company of the likes of Rob Hirst, Melanie Horsnell and Angus Diggs, all of whom join him in this collection. This album promises a lot – with a staggering 17 tracks, and is a tidy enough collection of mid-paced rockers and soulful ballads. There are undertones of Jeff Lang’s rustic travelogues; Some Simplicity is a friendly, thoughful opening, and the songs then progress with an overall blanket of nostalgia and reflection. Jervis Bay is heart-on-sleeve, gentle and lonely, and Whole of the Moon has the expansive and contemplative joy of one of Powderfinger’s ballads. Everything seems well executed, though Paul’s delivery is perhaps overly earnest at times, really evident in the penultimate track, Greene’s reverential cover of Jeff Buckley’s Last Goodbye, complete with warbling falsetto waterfalls. This is a nice record full of simple, melodic songs, but artistically it feels a little understated; which is fine, but because of its ambling nature there’s a risk that these songs may not hold the listener’s attention for the whole journey.

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