David Gray - Life in Slow Motion (20th Anniversary) [Blue]

David Gray's Life in Slow Motion turns twenty with this anniversary edition on blue vinyl, revisiting the album that sent him straight back to the top of the UK charts.

Released in 2005, his seventh studio album followed the cooler reception of A New Day at Midnight and found Gray reaching for a bigger, more cinematic sound. Working with producer Marius de Vries, he wrapped his familiar piano and acoustic guitar in lush arrangements and, for the first time on one of his records, cello, creating something warmer and more expansive than anything he had made before.

"The One I Love" is the big, swooning single, all rolling piano and an open-hearted chorus, while "Alibi" opens the record with slow-burning intensity. "Hospital Food" brings a jaunty, sardonic bounce, and "Slow Motion" drifts by in a hazy, reflective reverie that gives the album its emotional centre.

Gray's voice, raw yet tender, ties it all together, and the songs reflect on love and the passing of time with real grace and a songwriter's eye for small details.

Two decades on, it stands as one of the most rewarding records in his catalogue, and the blue vinyl makes a lovely way to hear it again or discover it for the first time.