Tom Williams & The Boat are a six-piece from Tunbridge Wells, an unfashionable location that is reflected in the ordinary bloke suburban blues on their latest six track EP, their fourth EP since late 2007.
Williams has a deadpan humour bordering on the maudlin. The tunes have been described as anti-folk but seem to owe more to classic pop from The Beatles to Belle & Sebastian.
There's a strong self deprecating quality to his song writing - he's a young white male who frets about blending in too much and the way he looks "I justify my shoes", he declares on the opening track '24' .
The songs have a quirky and even dark edge with the title tune hinting at suicidal tendencies and 'My Will' cataloguing the division of his possessions when he's passed on to the great gig in the sky.
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The one obvious love song 'Mary' also takes an unconventionally accommodating slant after as break up as he gallantly concedes that "I'm willing to forgive you for sleeping with those other guys".
These are good honest songs but are slanted too much to humdrum lives. A little poetry and romance is needed to help elevate them and us to a higher plain.
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