Review - Michael Fix "The Heart Has Reasons"

on ABC Music through EMI Records

 

As it turns out, Michael Fix has been a contributor to Gee Fry's radio program, including "Musicians of the West" with a couple of independant CDs prior to his signing to ABC and moving to Brisbane.

 

But his time with local folk-heroes Hat Trick was obviously a side-line, or the foundation for the man who has been described as the finest acoustic guitarist in the country. His third album "The Heart Has Reasons", his ABC Music debut, is a quietly ambient collection of self-penned tunes suited to the quiet coffee houses in the Blue Mountains and other times and places when only a quiet guitar will do!

 

And just after writing that, the pace changed dramatically with Dancing On Thin Ice, more lively and up-tempo with a bit of percussive and flautistic assistance. The feel of the album changes not!

 

Michael describes each of the tracks according to how he felt when he wrote them or who they're about. There are no stand-out tracks on the album, except for the aforementioned flighty and catchy Dancing On Thin Ice and the single Restless which sounds very Tommy-&-Phil and harks back to the old Hat Trick days. The rest of the tunes meld together to create a beautiful musical soundscape to which to either sit and relax or enjoy good company with.

 

Michael Fix "The Heart Has Reasons" on ABC Music through EMI Records: «««

PG (Jacky) Gleeson