When my friend Alex asked me to review his
debut album I was like, “wah? You want me to do what now?” I’ve reviewed books
before, and that was friggin hard, and I’ve reviewed comedy shows before, and
that was also friggin hard, so I agreed wholeheartedly because I’m a numpty.
Alex has been making music under the name
Your Man Alex Smith for some time now. He’s been doing live gigs and he’s been
working his butt off to fund the recording of his EP. And I’ve not seen him
perform once because we no longer live in the same town. Soz bro.
No but it has actually been a bit of an
embarrassment to me, because Alex has always been super supportive of my
endeavours, once gave up his time to act for free in a thing I wrote/made and
once drew this picture of Boyfriend and me…
Basically Alex is a winner. So *that’s* why
I agreed to review his album. Even though I don’t know what I’m doing. Even
though I am super lame about music. Even though I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING.
Ok, let’s get into it.
**Crazy Days - Your Man Alex Smith**
Tragedy
The album opens with a really upbeat song
about tragedy. In fact it’s a song about tragedies being “hidden behind a happy
melody” – this is super meta, yo. It *almost* borders on being a comedy song.
It’s not, but it employs a healthy dose of irony and I love it.
Alex has a super clear voice. It’s all
about the vocals in this track. There’s great stuff in the background (drums
and guitars and what not… lol music reviewing?) but you can’t help but focus on
the really nice stuff Your Man is doing with his voice.
You know who Your Man Alex Smith reminds me
of actually? Hank Green. That’s a massive compliment, by the way because yeah,
Hank.
Gingerbread
Man
Not the gumdrop buttons!
This song starts a lot slower than
“Tragedy” which is nice after the upbeat craziness of the first track. In
saying that, it’s probably my least favourite on the album. Not like, it’s bad
or anything, but if I had to rank them in order in a life or death situation,
I’d put “Gingerbread Man” at the end. What kind of life or death situation would
include ranking tracks on a friend’s album? I really don’t know why I said
that.
There’s a nice little bit about running as
fast as you can ala the titular fairy tale. In fact there’s quite a few nice
metaphors and motifs. Honestly there’s nothing wrong with this song, I just
feel like I can’t be 100% complimentary or this won’t look like a legit review
(yeah, THAT’S the problem).
Dream
Girl
Blue
eyes, blonde hair – nothing too exciting there/ But just go a little deeper.
Thought
I’d found the girl of my dreams/ And I’m a heavy sleeper.
I would like to conclude from the first few
lines of this song that Alex is super good at lyrics. I shall conclude that,
yes, because it just keeps going. This whole song is so well written, like damn
son, those are some good words you put together there. It’s a song about the
girl of his dreams, like his actual dreams. It’s great. You guys should really
listen to this album.
Tell
Me a Lie
Oh lord the rhythm in this is magic. Also
I’ve just learned I don’t know how to spell the word rhythm. But back to the
music. I say ‘magic’ because the vocals in Tell
Me a Lie use the natural pattern in the lyrics to create this awesome rhythm
that just makes you move. It’s like Alex is pulling you in. And because I don’t
understand how he’s done it, I’m going to assume it is magic.
This is my favourite song on the album.
This is my favourite song I’ve heard in ages. This is a really good song. I
feel like I’m doing it a disservice by not going into more detail, but I don’t
know what else to say… it’s just brilliant.
Where
I’m Going
These
boots are lined with lead/ the words you said are etched inside.
And
while they’re hard to lift/ they were a gift, I’ll wear them with pride.
Is this a song about shoes? I think this
might be a song about shoes. And I’m glad because there aren’t enough love
songs about inanimate objects in the world. Ok, no, this is actually a really
nice serious song and I think I might be ruining it. Shhhhh Lizzy.
This song really showcases Alex’s voice and
also his gift for melody. It’s a really beautiful song with a haunting
undertone of something much deeper and darker. Urgh, are you guys seriously
not going to get this album? Because you are missing out.
Bonus
Track – Tell Me a Lie A Cappella version
There’s a bonus track at the end that is an
a cappella version of Tell Me a Lie,
which is really exciting because I have decided it is my favourite track on the
album and now I have two copies of it. And remember how I said the vocals were
flippin awesome? Well guess what a cappella is losers?? It’s ONLY VOCALS so
yeah it’s the best bit of the best one. Magic. Actual magic. How do singing?
How do music?
And most relevant to me… how do reviewing?
 |
| It's the name of the album. #comedy |
No comments:
Post a Comment