Album Review: Arborist, Looking For Love

Looking For Love – the fourth album from Belfast-based Mark McCambridge – is his first release since bagging the 2023 NI Music Prize for his quietly poignant record, An Endless Sequence Of Dead Zeros.

As with all of his albums, Looking For Love is defined by Arborist’s powerful voice, as well as his lush Americana-inspired arrangements. On the 11 songs here, Arborist acts as flâneur in his home city, penning lyrics about the small dramas, moments of wonder and little intrigues that make up life in Belfast.

There is so much joy in the slow way Arborist moves through his songs, apparently getting a feel for them before allowing them to burst free with their full power. There is endless warmth in the appropriately titled ‘I’ve Been A Flâneur’, while ‘Sono Io’ is a hair-raising number sung in Italian. But Arborist saves the best til last with ‘The Taming Of The Horses’ – a delightful, conciliatory ballad, bursting with wisdom about time, love and travel.

8/10