Is the glass half empty or is the glass half full? Depending on your pessimistic / optimistic leanings you could either say this CD is moments of sparkling talent shining against the average, or sparkling talent ruined by a hefty dose of the mediocre.
Opening track "Santa Claus is Green" is probably the least affected by the tendency towards the mundane. It's singer-songwriter meets Jamiroquai or a spunkier Maroon 5 with a poppy, funky feel. The rhythmic wah guitars and distorting bass lay down a dance-able groove. The synths buzz and the lyrics come often rapid-fire over the top. The lyrics are quirky and sometimes non-sensical (you maybe surprised to find "god is a large sausage roll")- but it creates very fresh and interesting sound.
In fact things roll along very nicely even well into "The Future". A more mellow prospect with sparse piano and acoustic guitar it builds slowly into an almost Morcheeba groove whilst retaining it's acoustic-folky feel. The icy piano break alongside the backward samples is actually close to beautiful- and then, it happens. Just as you think it's getting really good in comes the MOR chorus.
The following track "I Need Something" suffers similarly. By the abysmal introduction of "Last Train Home", which sounds like someone hit the demo button on the keyboard- not in a Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack kitsch way, but in a genuinely bad way, you wonder how it could all go so horribly wrong.
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Actually, aside from that introduction, it isn't horribly wrong- it's just verges on the boring. It's frankly totally miss-able- it's Daniel Powter, having a Bad Day. What does actually rescue the songs is Faulkner's vocal and his lyrics. He conjures up unique scenes and isn't simply regurgitating cliché's. The range of his delivery is great- from the funky pop vocal to the deep and intimate even through to a gravelly big chorus his voice certainly holds its own.
There are things to love and things to loathe about this EP. It's not bad enough to warrant a critical panning, nor good enough to bear any claims to genius. I think there is certainly a spark of creative talent to be enjoyed- but then I've always been an optimist...
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