A chiming piano heralds the opening of lead track 'Without It,' and indeed, piano provides the main instrumental focus on all five of the tracks here. Perhaps not surprising for an act who describe themselves as 'a piano/rock duo' who cite Ban Folds as an influence. From the off, the lyrics, which are easy to catch because the vocals are quite prominent in the mix, come across as ranging from the obvious to the really rather bad. For example, 'Everything's changing, but it's still the same, it's like a movie, but in a picture frame,'and 'I must be an artist, because I don't get much sleep' both appear in 'Without It.' Insomnia equals being an artist? Ok, I hereby claim my 50 pedant points. But you can see why I may have issues, right?
There's a white soul / funk tinge to 'Strange Request,' and the big guitar solo and swirling Hammond break creates the impression of a large musician's collective giving it their all to an enthusiastic crowd of dancing mums.
And herein lies the fundamental obstacle to my being able to enjoy this release (apart from the fact the songs really don't inspire me): it's slick, it's layered, it's clearly got an eye on the popular market and it's bland. I know, we critics are contrary sorts, impossible to please. If the production' poor, we'll complain that it lets the material down, apart from on the occasions when we praise its rawness and energy, but if the production's good, we'll complain it's too polished, slick and corporate. Tough. What it comes down to is how the music engages us, how it makes us feel something, by almost indefinable means. Technical ability only counts for so much, and just as complete ineptitude is unappealing, so is anything that suggests that the artists is doing it for anything other than the art.
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'I am no Forrest Gump kid, I can't just run, run away from it / I don't have a box of chocolates telling me, telling me how to live,' Justin twitters on 'World on my Shoulder.' He clearly doesn't have a particularly good DVD collection, either. Oh well, we can't all be cool, can we?
http://justinandtomek.com/
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