David Ian Roberts Sending Out Fires (seen/heard here) is from the more interesting side of folk singer-songwriter compositions and appears on the artist’s March 2019 long-player, Traveling Bright. The long-player has apparently been in the works for a while, with production and engineering taking place in 2017. Like a well-aged whiskey, there’s a benefit to the wait, as experienced through the 12 carefully created tracks that appear on Traveling Bright.

At times, there is a feel of late sixties-style folk-rock goodness, (lead-off track A Million Winds) troubadour style story-telling (Lulling A Greener Man, Amber, Traveling Bright), and somewhere in the middle of all of that (John Says). All of these tracks fit neatly together, like colors in a beautiful sound painting. Robert’s vocals are light, airy, and expressive and tie everything together nicely.

Every song seems expansive, growing texturally out from the beginning threads, sometimes bursting at the end (Amber) and sometimes resolving within the song’s base melody. Credited with a bunch of instrumentation (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, slide and 12 string guitars, dulcimer, glockenspiel, kalimba, autoharp, Hammond organ, drums, percussion, as well as piano on one track), David Ian Roberts has a fondness for how instruments, carefully blended, add to the expression within the music. Aided in this are the beautiful cello work of Kirsten Miller with Daan Temmink on piano and Aidan Thorne on double bass. The total effect of these instrumental contributions is an awe-inspiring sound.

You can find more information on David Ian Roberts by heading up to his website, which is a mixed bag. First, the site is missing a decent biography on the artist which is a pet peeve of mine. Second, there is a “Media” and a “Video” link. The “Video” link is obvious enough, but the “Media” link has a “Video” on it and a link back to Roberts’ YouTube channel, except it doesn’t. Instead, it links back to the page you are on. All of the social links are there (even a working YouTube link) as well as good and updated tour information. You can find Traveling Bright in CD, vinyl, and digital form on his bandcamp.com site.

Check out some thought-provoking expansive folk by a very talented artist by picking up Traveling Bright today!