See Below

chrisweeks1020
11 minutes ago
8 min read

JUST LIKE THE FORMER DUKE OF YORK, POP IN THE REAL WORLD IS GIVING UP ITS TITLE THIS WEEK.

Starring

Barry Walker Unit. Haim, Mark Bacino, Not Me But Us, Tom Grennan

Best for : People with short attention spans who like contemporary Radio 1 pop

Tom Grennan fits right in to the kind of radio show playing in the background at your local barbers. He’s relentlessly cheerful and high tempo, and taking aim at our pre-uni youth

There was a time when songs were deliberately made louder, because they would sound better on the radio. Even the quieter songs sounded louder and, as Tom Grennan demonstrates on ‘I Won’t Miss A Thing’ it still feels as if he’s shouting. It was a trick played by producers and record companies that was linked to the compression of the sound. The problem is that studies have been carried out proving it becomes difficult to listen to excessively compressed music for more than fifteen minutes or so. In making the music sound better it becomes unlistenable.

It’s a practice that does Tom Grennan no favours. If this fifteen track album was split into three five track EPs, we’d be hailing him as a pop legend of Robbie Williams proportions. He’d be cool with that, and the house pop of ‘Full Attention’ and ‘Cool With That’ would be on the soundtracks of our summers.

En masse this is an album of songs aiming for inclusion on playlists, one at a time to maximise streaming play. The songs lack any other identity, They’re completely interchangeable. ‘Somewhere Only We Go’ - nice reminder of Keane’s chart friendly pop - is typical. Wham, bam and then it’s gone. It’s a tribute to him and his production team that every song could be a generic single sparking arm waving and delirious singalongs. He even paves the way for this by having his own posse of backing choruses on most of the songs.

Here, he takes us on a journey, from “Wow, I quite like this” to “Er.. could we have something else” to barely endurable submission. It’s an album that increasingly seems all empty fun, fun, fun with no attempt to show a serious, sensitive or introspective side until ‘I Won’t Miss A Thing’. The addition of brassy pop funk with a touch of light rap to ‘Certified’ is the sound of an over-caffeinated Rick Astley. The perky, slightly less manic ‘Cinnamon’ is a reminder of Elton John around the time he wrote ‘Passengers’. Everything else is sherbet music - fizzy, enjoyable in small packets but ultimately unsatisfying.

Tom Grennan - are you cool with that?

Taster Track : Cool With That

Top of the World : Mark Bacino

Best for : Enjoying yourself when you're not bothered by looking cool.

Mark Bacino and Tom Grennan (see above) are, in many ways, polar opposites. Where Grennan provides an all you can eat feast that leaves you stuffed, Bacino provides a selection of sweet tapas delicacies that satisfy as they leave you wanting more. While Grennan aims to provide crowd pleasing cool, Bianco would be content playing his music to just one interested listener. When Grennan is driving the pre-uni crowd wild, Bacino is amusing the mums, dads, aunts and uncles waiting patiently for the show to end to provide the lift home.

Those older relatives will have musical tastes formed in the mid to late 70s. Bacino knows this, and his songs are painted in the bright warm colours of happy memories and more innocent times.. The album fits ten songs into 22 minutes.They’re not even three minute singles, they’re compressed bursts of sunshine in song. They may be out of time, but they get the day off to a good start.

You’ll find influences in the oompah of Harry Nilsson and the acute brevity of Nick Lowe. Later artists have dipped their toes in the same musical pool but one song at a time. Think of John Grant’s ‘Silver Platter Club and Father John Misty’s ‘Mr Tillman’. Such brief songs may feel like throwaway, disposable numbers but listen again and you’ll hear the care and attention to detail heard in Brett Mackenzie’s ‘America Goodbye’ or 10cc’s later pop. The brass and orchestral arrangements mark this out as a highly successful labour of love.

It won’t be long before the next sitcom trawling through the 70s comes along. They need these light and happy songs as their soundtrack.

Taster Tracks : Any, but out of necessity to choose just one ‘How The Story Ends’

I Quit : Haim

Best for : Anyone going through a break up or who loves a break up record with attitude

Haim, as you probably know, are three sisters - Danielle, Alana and Este recovering from broken relationships. They don’t want your pity and sympathy. No, they want payback through the unvarnished truth.

All you need to know about this album is contained in the excellent opening track, ‘Gone’. It mixes folk pop, rock, gospel and the power of sisterhood. It’s a statement song, a thrilling mess of influences, the sound of the thoughts in your head lusting for action and revenge. It’s like watching a demolition job from a distance, being powerless to stop it and so marvelling at its epic power.

Once ‘Gone’ is gone, there’s not a lot more to be said on the matter. Unfortunately there are another 14 songs to come, all retreading the same ground. What you have here is a breakdown album cubed, and it’s too much. It’s like the email you draft but should never send. It lacks nuance and variety in its focus on ‘fuck you’ intensity. Don’t look for subtlety, look for catharsis. Halfway through, the album lost me. Passion, hurt, payback and anger - unbelievably it all became a little dull.

Taken one track at a time, you have a series of American radio friendly songs mixing a little Alanis Morrisette, a dash of furious Taylor Swift and a smattering of 90s rock. ‘Now It’s Time’ is pure INXS. It sounds a little dated.

There are some strong passages where the interplay between the sisters pays off, particularly in the vocals of ‘Million Years’ and ‘Gone’. The gospel sway of ‘Gone’ works really well, and more diversions from the standard rock template would have been welcome. They sound like a band that has a lot more to give when they can get around to it. At the moment they have relegated their music to third place behind the emotion and the lyrics.

It’s said that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Let’s hope that applies to the emotions on this album too.

Taster Track : Gone

Everywhere I Went, Led Me To Where I Didn’t Want To Be : Tom Grennan

Two : Not Me But Us

Best for : Those with fond memories of clubbing but now drawn to nu classical

Not Me But Us are two different personalities sharing one musical identity. From Italy, Bruno Bavolo is a composer; K-Conjog is a DJ and producer. Their very name implies a meeting of minds, a combining of strengths and something stronger and better than either of them could produce alone. It’s not misleading.

This is lovely, soothing music marrying a restrained promise of dance euphoria with a more purposeful approach to nu classical. Bravolo used to be known as the new Ludovico Einaudi. You can hear that in ‘Buildings’ and elsewhere. K-Conjog’s beats stop the music becoming too formal and stuffy, making for the soothing blend of ‘In A Box’. ‘Nocturnal Humans’ builds on this vibe. It’s sitting up on a summer’s evening to watch the Northern Lights.

It’s an impressive album, but not perfect. The music slides back and forth rather than building to a heady climax. The promise of dance euphoria is a false one. ‘No Words’ is a dance track waylaid by ambience. The drop and beats don’t quite make it to the party. These are pieces that set up an expectation before taking a sharp left turn to somewhere unexpected. It’s as if, wandering around a medieval castle, you pass through a door that leads you outside while you were expecting the dungeons. ‘Inner Space’ is heavier than you’d expect at first. It has the suggestion of a crashing church organ before you’re seduced into calm by the feeling of sun beginning to stream through stained glass windows.

The mix of two different styles demonstrates how two can be an upgrade on one. One is proficient; two can be more than twice as creative in drawing out the possibilities contained in contrasting styles. Hania Rani is one person, maybe the only one, who can pull off a similar feat.

This is what happens when you have two personalities excited and willing to share the load.

Taster Track : Inner Space

At The 13th Moon Gravity Well : Barry Walker Unit

Best for : Those who can find the music in unlikely places to soothe a troubled mind.

Sometimes the prospect of listening to an album can feel a little daunting. A quick trawl of existing reviews for this record did nothing to reassure me - four tracks in 44 minutes, improvised and extended jazz jams, music inspired by the 44 year anniversary of some volcanic activity, that kind of thing. Convincing myself that it would be a sign of weakness to back out now, this is what I found.

‘Sweet Gum In Ash’ lives up to that preface. It’s a jazz jam anchored by a slide guitar and it provides you with a choice. You can accept it for what it is and relax, knowing that there is nothing for your head to do if it can’t anticipate what comes next or remember what has just passed. Or…. you can work hard with top level attentive listening to find the thread of a tune that brings it all together. I opted for the former and have to admit that I quite enjoyed it. As sound rather than music it felt good and I enjoyed it.

It’s a similar story with ‘The Origin of Broken Pieces.’ I loved that title, but became just a little impatient at the music’s impersonal feel. This is a live album, but the audience are so absent and quiet for the most part that you wouldn’t know. The mix of hushed jazz drum patters, wah wah guitar and a persistent bass pulse that eventually fades into oblivion absorbs the band but you feel it doesn’t really matter to them if there’s a listener out there. Lost in their own world, they don’t need a reaction.

‘High In The Hummocks’ is the single (!) and it’s close to a revelation. Its rolling bass riff provides the platform you need to enjoy the pyrotechnics going off around you. It’s the key that lets you unlock the music. It’s the moment of realisation that shrieks “Yes! It works!!” and will encourage you to select, repeat and listen to the album again.

On the other hand ‘Mordial :: Mortem’ is everything you might have dreaded from the opening description. It’s an eleven minute tuning up that takes six minutes or so to settle down. It’s the kind of music I imagine you might hear coming from a top secret scientific research facility, miles from anywhere in the dead of night. You shouldn’t be there!

The measure of an album’s success is how you feel at the end. And the effect of this on me was surprising. I don’t know how, but this album soothed my racing mind.

Perhaps it can do the same for you.

Taster Track : High In The Hummocks