Colin Tench - Hair In A G-String album review

A surprise package. Just ignore the wrapping

Colin Tench Hair In A G-String covert art

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

First off: yes, that is a wretched title, and agreed, the artwork does look like it was produced with an iPhone picture filter, but leave your coat on the hook for a moment, because here lies an album more worthy of your time than its self-sabotaging surface would suggest.

Colin Tench plays guitar with international prog types Corvus Stone, but has struck out on an independent tack for this record, recruiting Pete Jones (Tiger Moth Tales, Camel) and Phil Naro (Julian Lennon) on vocal duties. The result is a fascinating, if unedited, record that meanders through a patchwork of rock, pop and classical influences in beguiling, natural arcs. You can sense the guiding hand of Metatron in the Santana-esque Hair In A G-String Part 2, Floyd-like spoken word in Hair On A G-String Part 1 and Howe-esque acoustic excursion on the Mad Yeti’s obligatory fingerstyle showcase. Tench’s stellar fretwork and thoughtfully melded compositions display a lighter and infinitely more tasteful touch than his heavy-handed titles and silly innuendos (Lisa Waltzes Back In With No G-String, anyone?) would have you believe. We just wish he’d let the music do the talking.