Side Two of A Child’s Chant for a New Millennium opens with “Wrenbird,” a consideration of whether it’s possible to have a bird’s freedom of mobility. “Anywhere but here,” sings Wren Hinds. He may not be happy where he is, but the accompanying soundtrack is enough to make anyone stick around.
During its four-and-a-half minutes, “Wrenbird” shifts from an acoustic guitar-accompanied reverie to incorporate strings, brushed drums and flute-like keyboard lines. By the mid-point, it’s epic – albeit in a restrained way. When wordless vocals appear towards the end, there’s a hint Hinds may have taken in Fleet Foxes at some point.
Overall, A Child’s Chant for a New Millennium is just as assured and amongst its concerns are favouring the digital over the personal – Facebook crops up in “The Path”, where the lyric begins “Don’t let them suck you in.” Just as Hinds wants to be somewhere else, he also says “life’s about more than Instagram… bang your freedom drum.” Appropriately, the music helping him express his feelings could have been written and recorded at any time from 1968 onwards. Its purity is comparable with what emerged as singer-songwriters realised big gestures weren’t necessary. Add in Hinds’ own rueful, thoughtful timbre and – from the off – this album sounds like an old friend even though it’s a new acquaintance.
Wren Hinds is South African, from the coastal town of Ramsgate. A Child’s Chant for a New Millennium is his third solo album. Before this, he had recorded with his brother as The Hinds Brothers – their father had played with his own brother as an earlier model The Hinds Brothers in the Sixties. So although it seems to have, this hasn’t come entirely out of the blue. The UK release of A Child’s Chant for a New Millennium is a vinyl-only limited pressing. An internet search will find the album. It won’t disappoint.
