Less overtly political than his previous work, but still satirical and now more personal, this is jaunty, quirky, eccentric, eclectic pop by the 25-year-old LA-based Enfield-raised singer-songwriter, experimenting like a 1960s psychedelic troubadour. Opener WOBBLE is a bizarre trippy, catchy ditty setting the surreal existential, dreamy style “Brushstrokes of saltwalter beer, just falling over”), followed by the tinkly, shuffling, brass-infused Elevator Hum (“I can’t quite explain this hole in my head has come round again”). Mulholland’s Dinner and Wine has a drug-hazy but witty pop at the oddness of Los Angeles existence, but I the bluesy, folky stomp of Write The News with some trippy, reverse effects (with a dash of Beck about it) is British in flavour and theme – a dig at London rents and Kensington types, while Nothing Works strikes a sharp chord for anyone dealing with music executives. Lead single Sympathy is more personal groove (“I can see what you’re all about / You don’t need to be clever”) that harks back to another era with it’s theatrical, woozy Beatles-eque pop style. Sometimes he goes down the George Harrison route, at others Steve Marriott and Small Faces, at others there’s echoes of Supergrass. This is a refreshingly free and experimental LP, especially for an artist signed to a very big label, restlessly searching for metaphorical treasures with his metal detector. Out on Columbia Records / Sony.
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