Had East Anglian troubadour RORY McVICAR slid out of his native Norwich 25 years ago, the chances are he would very quickly have caught the ear of one John Peel: THE man whose diligence and attention to detail ensured those of us starved of important independent sounds out there were acquainted with the best of even the most obscure geographic locations.
Inevitably, it was down to Peely that this humble young hack began raving about the likes of Norwich heroes such as The Higsons and The Farmers Boys, not to mention amazing one-offs like 'Baby I'm A U-Boat' by The Fire Hydrant Men. While we're on the subject, does anyone out there know if they recorded anything else? I'd love to hear it if so.
Anyway, I digress, but the long-winded point I'm getting to is that John would have certainly approved of the maverick talent displayed by young RORY McVICAR: a chap who knows the value of both a bloody good, idiosyncratic pop tune, a great drawly delivery and sometimes the need to ally his songs with a whole host of weird percussion instuments such as knives, forks, clinking bottles and dustbins.
There's a distinct lack of dustbin lids on Rory's debut single proper 'Now That You're Mine', but that's not a problem, for it's a sublimely leisurely stroll complete with shuffly drums, supple stand-up bass, lots of doo-wop style harmonies and of course McVicar's wonderfully laconic vocal. There's the occasional foray into Morrissey-esque musing with the lyrics ("Life is longer than living but I don't care") but with his unhurried hooks and low-key charisma, McVicar soon reels you in, only to do it all again with the frail, almost stillborn folk-blues of second tune 'This Is Not The Time' which is considerably starker but no less compelling for that.
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The great news is that McVicar's soon-due debut album has considerably more where this little brace of out-of-step beauts come from, so make sure to stay tuned for this will not be the last time we feature this talented young chap. You can consider that both a threat and a promise.
(http://www.myspace.com/rorymcvicar)
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