Blink blink bland
Blink- 182 California BMG
ACHIEVING what Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped
Pool couldn’t, the seventh album by the SoCal poppunk band — and first since co- leader Tom DeLonge was replaced by Alkaline Trio guitarist Matt Skiba— succeeded in pushing Canadian rapper Drake’s Views off the top of the Billboard album chart. Proving ... what, exactly? Certainly that the snarky, aging poppunk band retains more audience share than might be expected, and that their lessambitious-than- Green Day three- minute rips continue to appeal to both current and former suburban youths.
The San Diego- born band’s wit remains less than stellar — I won’t repeat the inane, one- line lyric of the 29- second Brohemian
Rhapsody. And California’s efforts to stand as aunified statement about the Golden State are feeble, though there are songs called Los
Angeles, California, and San Diego. But almost despite themselves, the late- 1990s trio has gathered asmidgen of gravitas, as they turn sensitive balladeers on Home Is Such A
Lonely Place. And the realisation that “the clock’s running, our time’s coming” threatens to harsh the buzz of the “Kings of the Weekend.” — Dan DeLuca/ The Philadelphia Inquirer/ Tribune News Service
LYIA This Is Lyia Independent
A debut offering from aclub circuit stalwart is still able to raise an eye brow or two. Why? It’s hard to say for sure, but working musicians often get typecast as imitators and not innovators, but that’s where Lyiabreaks the mould.
This Is Lyia is a five- song offering that harkens back to the golden age of songwriting, where turn of phrase and sumptuous melodies are still the order of the day. The Klang Valley- based singer- songwriter is clearly schooled in the sounds of 1970s and flexes that intuition from the off with She’s
Searching, atale of self- discovery, driven by crystalline acoustic guitars.
Just when this seems like aan excursion in balladeering, she turns up the wick with the pulsating and rocking Save Me, the Deep Purple leanings of the track highlighted by the organ- guitar sparring. This barnstormer should serve her well in the no- nonsense live circuit.
It’s never easy pushing an all- English album in amulti- racial country like ours, and its easy to see why atrack like Dimana
Dikau has lodged itself in This Is Lyia. But credit to the tune, it ticks all the boxes of a rock ballad, replete with soaring vocals, violin melodies and adriving beat.
For You finds her in familiar territory again, exploring the jazz pop melodies of GRP- erastylings from the 1980s, which formed the bedrock of smooth jazz in the club scene here.
The music on this debut is well- composed and executed, and Lyiaallows a few friends, musicians like guitarists Sharin and Jude Bensing, drummer Jimmy Tan and pia- nist Ganesh Bala, to carry the tunes through.
This is uncharted waters for Lyia, but her debut provides no indication that she is a recording greenhorn. If this is her at her at her most naive, it’s astonishing to think what asecond album could offer. – N. Rama Lohan
David Nail Fighter Universal
COUNTRY crooner David Nail talks family life in highly- personal Fighter.
His fourth studio album opens with upbeat, toe- tapping tunes Good At
Tonight and Night’s On Fire that capture the rush of falling in love. The second half of the album then sees the 37- year- old artiste switching gears, as Nail digs deeper when he opens up about his and his wife’s struggle with infertility in the moving Babies.
“So imagine when you get the news, after years of trying, not just one but two,” sings Nail who had twins late last year after trying for four years. It mustn’t have been easy him to bare his vulnerabilities and pen the track, but we’re glad he did.
Meanwhile, the title track is asweet love ballad that sees the singer showing his appreciation to his wife for her resilience in the toughest of times.
Still, my favourite has got to be the closing track Old Man’s Symphony. A beautiful song dedicated to his father, Nail paints apicture of his young self witnessing his father’s passion for music which inspired his eventual decision to take the musical path.
It takes areal fighter to be able to put one’s personal life out there, as Nail did in his new release. – Kenneth Chaw