This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Sometimes it pays to read the label.
Like Joseph Arthur’s other two albums, Redemption’s Son is a product of Peter Gabriel’s Real World imprint. But this time, Arthur — who has toured with Gabriel — displays his benefactor’s influence more than ever before. Several of the 16 tracks on this 75-minute album — which the Akron native wrote, played and produced nearly single-handedly — are built from the sort of pulsating rhythms, lazy grooves, shimmering synths, buzzing electronics and lush production that are Gabriel’s stock in trade. What keeps the drowsy-voiced Arthur from sounding like a pale imitator, though, is his accessible songcraft. No matter what flights of fancy they take, all of these songs are firmly grounded in acoustic-guitar singer-songwriter troubadourism, with melancholy moods, hooky melodies and catchy choruses more suited to the college charts than the WOMAD side stage. Though not as instantly compelling as his 2000 breakthrough Come To Where I’m From, Redemption’s Son will likely grow on you.
