Paul Armfield

Mellow, warm, wistful, and smoky, Paul Armfield is a double bass player, singer, and songwriter who plays a comfortable kind of folk noir or chamber pop with his band the Four Good Reasons. Born in Birmingham, U.K., but raised on the Isle of Wight, Armfield was drawn to the bass during punk's heyday. The cool stances of the Clash's Paul Simonon and the Stranglers' Jean Jacques Burnel were the main reasons for picking the instrument, but soon Armfield became interested in genres much quieter. Soon he was to join various bands playing jazz, blues, gypsy music, bluegrass, folk, and Cajun sounds. He was a bookstore manager by day when he met guitarist Adam Kirk. Jamming with Kirk at night influenced Armfield to take his songwriting more seriously. Some gigs and demos followed but it took an offer from the A Town Full of Fonzies label for Armfield to consider music a possible career. Kirk left to tour with Joan Baez, so Armfield asked guitarist J.C. Grimshaw to step in and complete what was to be the 2004 release Songs Without Words. The album drew comparisons to Lambchop, Tindersticks, Nick Cave, and Jacques Brel, and quickly became a word-of-mouth favorite. After a tour of Germany supporting Lambchop along with headlining shows across the U.K., Armfield switched to the Superrappin label for his 2005 release Evermine. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide