TOM VEK is the sort of talented git you could easily become horribly envious of on the surface.
Let's examine the evidence. He's written and performed everything on this debut album, "We Have Sound" by himself, with only producer Tom Rixton to oversee the project. That's one. He has his own studio. That's two. He has a talented live band to help him reproduce his songs on the live circuit. That's three. Oh, and he allegedly has been the subject of a bidding war involving large sums of dosh before this record even threatened to see the light of day. That's four and enough to make most mere mortals insanely jealous. Gnash!
So it's fortunate that when we get to examine Tom's album that we find him to be an extremely talented but also extremely likeable git who you could quite easily become seriously attracted to. Indeed, "We Have Sound" is a quirkily funky affair, which takes plenty of unlikely highways and by-ways along the way to its' ultimate destination and is the work of a playful character who clearly has the ear for a good tune as well as the technical expertise to realise his goals.
Recent singles "If You Want" and "I Ain't Saying My Goodbyes" give you some idea what to expect. The latter is especially good, with its' brittle and skinny post-punk guitars, growling bass and busy hi-hat-bothering rhythms whipping the song into a righteous maelstrom all its' own, while the cowbell overload and rubber-thumbed basslines of "If You Want" also comes up on the rails the more you're exposed to it. Its' snidey chorus ("I guess you're proud to be different") is delivered in a nicely sneery fashion too, and undoubtedly one of the record's numerous highlights.
Indeed, throughout the first half of "We Have Sound", Vek is really in contention. Opener "C-C (You Set The Fire In Me)" straddles the analogue/ digital divide with huge, wall-toppling drums, spooked keyboards and jaywalking, Peter Hook basslines, while "A Little Word In Your Ear" is another winner, proffering a wobbly funk handshake, ineffeably funky drums and a nice line in lyrical surreality from our hero (e.g: "The cigarettes you smoke have no smoke to blow" - er, righto Tom).
Indeed, by the time Vek hits track six "The Lower The Sun", you're just about hooked. This one is typical of the skewhiff pop he excels in, with heady beats and a lovely, mellifluous chorus. The contrast with Tom's rueful lyrics ("The lower the sun/ the taller the shadows become") is also a fine juxtaposition and the song is a bittersweet treat and possibly the album's pinnacle.
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Sadly, though, just as Tom's asserted his pop genius, his crown begins to slip, and he struggles throughout "We Have Sound"s second half. "Cover" rings the first alarm bell. It features Tom's by now expected oblique lyrical invective ("It's your Stanley knife cutting into me/ that's why I cover my ears when you talk to me" - er, righto Tom), celestial organ and very intrusive drums. It's OK, but doesn't really add up to much, and after this, even if it's not exactly downhill all the way it's certainly true to say the album gradually runs out of steam.
"Nothing But Green Lights" briefly rallies Vek's creative urge. It's based around a perky synth motif, not dissimilar to Talking Heads (Tom's an avowed fan, after all) and lurches forward with an infectious sense of purpose, which ensures that the concluding tracks "On The Road" and "That Can Be Arranged" sound even more slight and frustrating. In fairness, "On The Road" isn't too bad: it all drizzly guitars, yawning drums and Tom griping about "you said I was a backseat driver", but it's too undisciplined and rambling to really engage and its' looseness ultimately annoys. It's inspired compared with "That Can Be Arranged", though, which sounds like Beck on an off day, and is a depressingly ordinary way to let go of what started out as a fascinating piece of work.
Thankfully, these blemishes aren't enough to entirely taint what is still largely a cool debut album, so you still come away with a positive impression of what Tom Vek can - and probably will - achieve in the future. "We Have Sound" flaunts both brilliance and imperfection and reveals Tom Vek to be human as well as a talented git. You like him all the more for it in the long run.
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