Here's a second, enthusiastic review:
https://www.scienceofnoise.net/justin-sullivan-sorrounded/
I bet this is an enthusiastic one, but...i cannot read it..
Seems to be in spanish?!?
Here's the flawed, rough english translation of this spanish review:
The genius of the great Justin Sullivan is becoming more and more clear to me. To all this I have to add that the last concert I could attend before the world changed (to worse) were their New Model Army, and I really enjoyed their proposal. Beyond his mother band, this Englishman with difficult teeth and exceptional compositional angel, delivers grapes to single material pears, showing himself naked and sincere and telling you stories as beautiful as sad. His last and only solo album was released 18 years ago and was titled Navigating by the Stars.
Most of this work was forged in the early days of the forced confinement of those we populate the Earth. A beautiful lament that can be the soundtrack of the worst days of pandemic, with a folk air and a lot of mystique. There are up to 16 cuts all following clear patterns and a marked troubadour-storyteller style in dark times. Recorded almost everything in his home and with several collaborations that complete an intimate work full of well-known stories, others less... and quite a bit of autobiographical material.
Here we have Sullivan armed with his acoustics and voice, boosted by some very sober and minimalist effects and arrangements. A succession of cold and icy atmospheres in which his voice tells beautiful stories surrounded by dark, dark and wide landscapes. The fact that he approached the incredible story of Amundsen and Scott in the conquest of the South Pole already beats me in advance. What’s more, it’s a single and it’s the best track on the album, although there are many that are well worth it. "Dirge" opens the disc brilliantly by marking territory and showing what this is all about. Double whispered murmurs and ethnic percussions including Tibetan bowls and strings.
Another of the singles are the nude and rough chords that accompany him in the positivist "Clean Horizon". A ray of light between the storm clouds with a rope accompaniment as effective as beautiful. Same premises for that cloud that is "Stone and Heather" or for the dark and narrated "Coming With Me".
In "Sao Paulo" Justin becomes a kind of crooner in the style of Leonard Cohen, with that deep voice, a double bass, effects and a train with which he finishes the composition. It’s time to highlight one of the greatest songs, and this is "28th May". Heartfelt melancholic tone with festive airs that contrasts with the more marinera "Akistan", well wrapped up throughout the section of rope and wind effects.
Moderate optimism in "1975", always with a good handwriting, one of the marks of the house of the great Justin Sullivan. Ethereal is "Sea Again", returning a little to the sailor clichés that our protagonist always tastes. Keeping the tone of the album is a beautiful "Clear Skies" and the brief "Rip Tides". We meet again with some of the most inspired compositions in "Daughter of the Sun", and especially in "Ride", with a great chorus with double voices.
" Justin Sullivan makes clear what a solo album has to be: something intimate, that you carry inside and that moves away from your main band or band. Anyway, many of these songs, electrified and at faster tempos could work perfectly in New Model Army. The album may be something long and monotonous, but the beauty that encloses is a lot, the moments of brilliance happen It is worth saying that Sullivan, armed only with his acoustic guitar, can take you to an infinite world of sensations and sensitivity. Sorrounded is the perfect example that the pandemic has made so many musicians and bands finish those projects they had in the drawer."