Album Review: Josh Pyke - The Beginning And The End Of Everything

The most outstanding things about Josh Pyke's songs are the lyrics. Pyke is the kind of songwriter where you can really hear the work that went into the lyrics. You can imagine him mulling over the different ways he can say something before finally deciding on the best fit.

His fourth album, The Beginning And The End Of Everything, has those signature Pyke lyrics. This is an album that seems to reflect Pyke's present personal life. Married with a young family that includes a new baby, you can hear themes of a matured love and legacy.

The first single off the album, Leeward Side, is the most upbeat with its rasping harmonica. It sounds like Pyke is trying to set a good example for his children as he sings, 'I wanna be someone worthy of a conversation.'

Warm In Winter involves a cheeky wordplay in the chorus that pricks your ears up when you hear, 'And I'd make you come….come to your senses.'

Fellow Sydney folkie Holly Throsby co-wrote and provides guests vocals on the softly sweet All The Very Best Of Us. And the album wraps up with the beautiful Stories That Get Told. Pyke sings about his young family and life moving on, hauntingly singing 'someday we'll all be stories, that get told incorrectly.'

All in all it's an album with all of the right Josh Pyke elements: the engaging lyrics and the familiar folk melodies. There are a few new sounds, such a banjo in Order Had Abandoned Us. There's a good mix of tempos in the songs that will make for a balanced live show to please all the punters whether they come to dance or sway.