Wild Imagination
“When you feel the need for space, run away from place to place,” he sings, offering an irresistible invitation: “Here’s two train tickets, let’s go!” After the Harry Nilsson-esque love songs of 2015’s The Boombox Ballads, Black embarks on a new mission on Wild Imagination: to find the perfect pick-me-up antidote to the winter of our discontent. The result is a bright, wry, melodically buoyant and sweetly melancholy tonic from the North Wales (born in Trefriw, near Snowdonia; now Cardiff-based) singer: a tribute to the joys of travel and the warming return home alike. Previously, Black’s co-travelling collaborators have included Carmarthenshire’s Cate Le Bon. But his sweet sentiments and winning melodies have been constant companions for all open-hearted listeners since 2003. And they prove so once more on Wild Imagination, with impeccable timing.
The humbly emotive talent of North Wales-based musician Stephen Black – aka Sweet Baboo – becomes apparent within the first few seconds of Wild Imagination.