Labels: Drink More
Review by: Oli Saunders
You have to be in the mood for this kind of thing but right now I am! A banjo plays an unaltered three note chord throughout the entire song. Someone joins in, playing almost the same thing, then a guy starts singing (dually with himself) about things that obviously mean something to him but not to me; finally a harmonica chirps in. It’s not blowing me away but this is what singer-songwriter stuff is all about when you are semi-talented and just trying to express your emotions through song. Track 2 tried to be Dylan and I’m less impressed; track 3 is simple finger picking which brings me back in, though the lyrics are a bit silly. The album proceeds and Andhi mixes up acoustic guitar, harmonic and banjo to good effect. A trombone comes into play on ‘You Don’t Know What You Are’ and then a kazoo, wow.
There are lots of good ideas here. But some flaws. It’s trying a bit too hard with all the different instruments, the style is too varied from song to song so that the record doesn’t flow. And sadly it’s the vocals… they are okay but on the whole they don’t stand up enough. Vocals on singer songwriter records have to be either good or unique. There’s hints of it on ‘The Honeymoon Sweet’ where I get a Jeff Mangum vibe, in the instruments too. But then the next track is rubbish and he’s using sand paper as an instrument and singing about cocoons. Just no. Some promise but needs work in my view.
6th April 2016