Lemar's new album, plus The Bronx, Remember Remember, Angil + Hiddntracks, and John Barrowman.
CD OF THE WEEK
LEMAR
The Reason
(Epic)
Three stars
Allan Burnett
Lemar is a beguiling fellow, as in the way he opens this album with a couple of beguilingly crumby tracks before reminding us why we still lick our lips greedily every time his breathless, trembling vocal chords are served up in the Ikea restaurant on a rainy Sunday afternoon. The former Fame Academy contender proves yet again that he's got the voice, not to mention the looks, to melt 14-year-old girls' hearts - if not the lyrics to impress fully grown adults. "The beggar is the rich man," he croons emptily on The Reason, followed by the awful Weight Of The World, which is indeed heavy - with platitudinous cod-philosophising of the sort that Seal used to torture people with back in the early 1990s.
But then along trots Little Miss Heartbreaker - now that's more like it. A sweetly melodious number with a punchy, three-six-nine rhythm that strolls right up and demands that you get your ass on the floor and boogie, dammit. After that, things just get better as Lemar slips knowingly between styles and genres, with poppy hit single If She Knew followed by the ska-tinged Trust Me.
The grimy, urban Wait Forever initially threatens to be little more than your typically saccharine, UK-garage rap number. But here, again, Lemar clouds up the mirror with so much of his own unique vocal sound that the spectre of Craig David all but disappears. Penultimate track Not What You Say is a gorgeous, retro soul number that tickles all the right falsetto keys before plunging into bassy depths of anguish. And then, melancholic, enigmatic, unfinished: Black Tide closes proceedings with not so much a full stop as an ellipsis a success story that's to be continued, then?
Download This: Little Miss Heartbreaker
OTHER RELEASES
THE BRONX
The Bronx
(Wichita/White Drugs)
Three stars
David Cook
In a world of slick, overproduced music devoid of passion and soul, even a sliver of authenticity is like a breath of fresh air. The Bronx, therefore, are like sucking on an oxygen pump. Album number three is - like their first two - self-titled. Obvious potential for confusion aside, the LA hardcore punk unit's quest for integrity is clear. "I wanna be original/I wanna be surrounded by art" Matt Caughthran rasps over the top of the staccato riffs of opener Knifeman. It's a perfect start to what proves to be a pleasantly raucous and abrasive affair that oozes a DIY ethic without compromising on quality. From the catchy, singalong punk of Past Lives to the grinding Inveigh and the garage rock of Enemy Mind, it's enough to please anyone trying to live outwith the mainstream. Unfortunately, as you near the end what started off as toe-tapping fun starts to feel like being repeatedly hit on the back of the head with a hammer. But it's a small price to pay.
DOWNLOAD THIS: Past Lives
REMEMBER REMEMBER
Remember Remember
(Rock Action)
Three stars
Peter John Meiklem
THE most obvious reference point for new instrumental rock act Remember Remember is fellow West-coasters Mogwai, who have decided to put out this record on their Rock Action label. Although this debut has none of the guitar squall made famous by Scotland's post-rock poster boys, to the casual listener the slow-burning tunes come from the same musical school. At its heart the solo project of Graeme Ronald (former multi-instrumentalist with Glasgow Art School It-kids The Royal We), the record starts with the cleverly arranged The Dancing taking a simple refrain and making something both toe-tapping and interesting from it. Genie takes a different approach, building from a sad but playful piano melody into a string-heavy soundscape. Unfortunately, the rest of the record fails to live up to that early promise. It burns brilliantly in places but struggles to find the overall consistency to captivate in the way Ronald and his other musicians no doubt intended.
Download This: The Dancing
JOHN BARROWMAN
Music Music Music
(Epic)
Two stars
Alan Morrison
DO we need a cover version of Billy Joel's Uptown Girl? Did we even need the original? John Barrowman's near-identical approach doesn't risk rocking a boat that's already sailing in very shallow waters. Like the Torchwood star's accent, which switches from Scottish to American at a whim, Music Music Music is a bit of this (stage musicals), a bit of that (easy-listening pop). Although his first album, Another Side, is heading towards platinum status in the UK, Barrowman's voice isn't spectacular; it's fine for the West End but, in the studio, it doesn't raise him up as a must-hear recording artist. This collection isn't for his teenage telly fans. It's for mums looking for a Michael Ball substitute who can slip, as comfortably as an M&S cardigan, into From A Distance and You Don't Have To Say You Love Me. Credit, however, for casting himself as Elaine Page on I Know Him So Well and Gloria Gaynor on I Am What I Am.
DOWNLOAD THIS: You'll Think Of Me
ANGIL + HIDDNTRACKS
Ouliposaliva
(Chemikal Underground)
Four stars
Steven Vass
IF you discovered at the bottom of your eighth glass of absinthe that the future of music demanded an album with no Es in the chords or lyrics, and hardly any guitars, you would probably wake up in the morning, dismiss this madness and learn another Killers cover. Not so Gallic umpteentet Angil + Hiddntracks, who have aligned themselves with the Oulipo, the French 1960s literary-mathematical school dedicated to creating things under constraints, and created one of the most compelling records of the year. It sounds like a cross between Syd Barrett and Momus but with more horns, squeaking vaudeville pianos and cryptic-crossword lyrics that cover everything from grass growing backwards to patronyms. Easy listening it may not be, but there is something cultishly enticing about singer Mickael Mottet's chanting repetitions and the weirdy French comic illustrations that fill the sleeve notes.
Download this: You Most (Third Part as Far as I Know)
