William D. Drake

The Guardian – 2 February 2007

Briny Hooves, 3/5

As the Great Tao of Style spins round, it is possible for culture to be so retro that it sounds fresh - and vice versa: witness the craft revival, ballroom dancing and the return of the seven-inch single. As backward-glancing composer-performers go, William D Drake is more Afghan coat than legwarmer. Briny Hooves is cheerfully eclectic, with a nod to "big pop" - the High Llamas, the Associates, late Beatles - and a raw edge to the vocals.

He has even been compared to Brian Wilson, perhaps for his quirky, acoustic orchestrations, but there is something defiantly British in Drake's attitude. His sense of scale and structure chime with his apprenticeship in the Cardiacs and his ongoing contributions to the North Sea Radio Orchestra. You can also hear Drake's pastoral roots in Yew's Paw (on Onomatopoeia), a simultaneously released collection of piano miniatures whose "light classical" veneer peels back to reveal a tough musical heart.

John L Walters

Rocksound – February 2007

7/10

Two very separate solo albums by a onetime member of the Cardiacs, a band appreciated by few outside a furiously devoted fan base and habitually described as "very English". Drake appears to be in no hurry to alter this impression on 'Briny Hooves'; that his old band were one of the biggest influences on the tea-sipping pop grandstanding of Blur comes to light on (painful pun alert!) 'Serendipity Doodah' – brassy prog-goes-pop springing above the glut of muted psych numbers and queerly arranged piano rattlers. More fun than this all sounds, actually. 'Yew's Paw', meanwhile, is a collections of 13 piano pieces, at once sinister and elegant; the sonic equivalent of an unearthed, scratchy film of 1920s upper-class social gatherings. That's more fun than it sounds, too.

Noel F Gardner

The Leeds Guide - Issue 162 - Wed 24 Jan - Thu 08 Feb 2007

William D Drake - Briny Hooves (SheBear Records) / Yew's Paw (Onomatopoeia Records)
**** (four stars)

A brave or foolish move for William D Drake and his two record labels; releasing two very different records on the same day could be the work of a genius or a mad man. Which is roughly the picture Briny Hooves paints of it's composer. Drake's work throughout his more 'song-based' album permanently verges on the preposterous, veering between lushly orchestrated folk and ludicrous psychadelia, combining sounds and ideas which, by all rights, should never even walk past each other, eyes averted, let alone sit happily hand-in-hand on record.

But the sign of a talented and unique song-writer is when the ridiculous becomes emotionally stirring, rather than laughable, and Briny Hooves achieves the former.

And then, there's album number two, Yew's Paw, a collection of thirteen solo piano pieces, twisting time signatures and keys at whim, making each mesmeric composition an intriguing, ever-shifting piece of work.

Tom Goodhand