aaamusic | On 28, Feb 2011

Dispelling the relentlessly upbeat folksiness country musicians sometimes seem prone to, Reflections of an Illusion actually falls much closer to the folk end of the spectrum. I’m probably biased but this was definitely the right move to make – Whittle’s voice is naturally suited to the kind of contemplative, understated tunes on offer here. That been said, Whittle isn’t the ‘lone acoustic guitarist’ type, instead opting to employ several other instruments, the piano the most noticeable of the bunch. This helps somewhat to keeping the record out of the repetition zone, though not completely – there’s not a huge amount of diversity here. It’s a small flaw though (jumping from genre to genre with each new song would kill the mood the album works so hard to create, anyway), and one that doesn’t change the fact that this is an enjoyable, if not particularly remarkable, record. Worth listening to.

Author: Katharine Sparks