Storytellers
There is also new music from Tom Odell and Half Waif
TOM ODELL — MONSTERS
TOM Odell has been pursued by monsters for nearly a decade.
But on his fourth album, the pop troubadour may have finally escaped to spectre of Another Love, the juggernaut
ballad that made him a household name in 2012. Single Money is a rebuke to both
celebrity culture and the critics who judged his early musical efforts to be mere money-making exercises.
Both are passable ballads that draw, somewhat surprisingly, on Ghost Storiesera
Coldplay and woozy West Coast hip hop. More surprises come on the fingerpicked Tears That Never Dry, a short and sharp folkie episode that stands out on an album of relative left turns.
The NME famously gave Odell’s debut album Long Way Down a zero out of 10 rating.
Monster won’t make the naysayers listen but it certainly marks an evolution in Odell’s style — and a willingness to experiment.
6/10
(Review by Alex Green)
INHALER — IT WON’T ALWAYS BE LIKE THIS
IRISH rockers Inhaler have been ones to watch since the beginning of 2021 — and not just because their frontman is the son of U2’s Bono. This 11-track debut certainly proves why they have garnered so much attention, and comes after the band dropped the Falling In EP last year.
Lead singles My Honest Face, Cheer Up Baby and When It Breaks, all have thumping drum beats and rhythmic, smooth guitar hooks.
The musical roster behind the band is bassist Robert Keating, frontman Elijah Hewson, guitarist Josh Jenkinson and drummer Ryan McMahon.
“We started writing this when we were teenagers and now we’re adults,” says Keating.
Hewson adds: “I wanted the songs to feel positive. Because . . . it won’t always be like this.”
The pandemic may have halted the music industry globally, but Inhaler are ready to get things rolling again.
9/10
(Review by Andre Johnson)
HALF WAIF — MYTHOPOETICS
YOU can tell it’s a lockdown album as there’s a song called Sourdough, a lovelorn piano ballad with the lyric “I taste his loneliness in the crust of every loaf”.
Mythopoetics isn’t all songs about baking though, as Nandi Rose Plunkett — who is Half Waif — charts a world of addiction, memory and loss. The synth-pop of previous albums has largely been replaced by more acoustic sounds.
Opening track Fabric starts with stately piano, and is 75 seconds of sadness (“you keep breaking me apart”) before Swimmer kicks in with wheezing keyboards and frazzled beats.
Party’s Over has a late-night comedown feel, while the catchy Horse Racing explicitly references the pandemic, warning “We’re never gonna make it to the end”.
Orange Blossoms has big Kate Bush energy, while elsewhere Bat For Lashes is an influence, but on her fifth album the Massachusetts singer has found her own voice in a low-key triumph.
8/10
(Review by Matthew George)
BRAND NEW ZEROS — BACK TO ZERO
WEST London’s Ronan MacManus comes from good musical stock.
He is one of five brothers involved in music — one of whom happens to be Elvis Costello.
Brand New Zeros is his project with guitarist Luke Dolan and their debut together saw them delving into piano balladry, classic rock and Americana.
Like its title suggests, Back To Zero, which is six years in the making, sees the pair mining the same vein for more gems.
MacManus rages against inequality on Money Goes To Money and hopes for goodwill amongst men on Human Kindness — two stand-out tracks.
It is an unashamedly nostalgic album, with lyrics wishing for better times and thrumming guitars that will hit any lover of Bruce Springsteen or Joe Strummer in the gut. Although the pair struggle to keep the quality high throughout, MacManus and Dolan manage to squeeze enough passion in to keep the listener engaged. 6/10
(Review by Alex Green)