Labels: (unofficially) the tallest man in norwich
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Hot dawg! Two super nice songs of fuzzy-wuzzy keyboard driven indie rock from the
Captain (aka the unofficial tallest man in Norwich, Jem Eaves), and I would be lying
if I said I didn’t like it, and who likes a liar. That’s right, no-one.
And the title isn’t lying, the songs are not recorded on a multi million pound budget,
but this all adds to the DIY charm of this enjoyable little package. Things are
distorted and you need to turn the volume up to be able to pick out what is going on,
which appears to be an awful lot. Sung vocals buried amidst layers of bouncy keyboard
and drum machine instrumentation, with guitars thrown in for good measure and possibly
other stuff going on in there too. The first track is “A Beautiful Owl”, which is a
measly two minutes in duration but features the lyric “this vehicle is being guided
home – singing harmonies over Braid songs”. What’s not to like? Indeed, lyrically the Captain
does seem very much influenced by your Nanna, your Kinsellas and your Von Bohlen with
lines like “just as the sun is the son of the sun”. Anyway, the first song is dashed
fine, especially the delightful final 40 seconds. “Telephones, Telephones, Telephones”
is it’s accompanying song, offering more of the same killer bounce and blend of various instrumentats. Right smart.
Hugely enjoyable and fun stuff then from the man Eaves, indeed.