Sunday 2 December 2012

Review of Andy Burrows' 'Company' for Artrocker magazine


The next sentence will not make for pleasant reading. Johnny Borrell. (Told you.) Now imagine if that sentence followed you around wherever you went. Grim, I know. Given that he is only one album deep into his solo career, these unfortunate circumstances is what Andy Burrows has to deal with. Every. Day. Case in point: The words ‘Andy Burrows’ means very little to you. The words ‘the ex-drummer of Razorlight’ mean considerably more. This is by no means to say that Burrows is content with barely having a name for himself, though, far from it. In an attempt to put his name on the musical map, for example, this album around he’s chosen to fly under his own name rather than his previous I Am Arrows moniker. And, if Company is anything to go by, he’s also trying to make his own musically speaking; some songs on the album could not be more different to the Razorlight of old. It’s all very grandiose (strings are a predominant feature, for example), unfortunately too much so at some points – Hometown is sickly-sweet, whilst Maybe You, bizarrely, could well have fitted into Funny Looking Angels, a Christmas album produced in collaboration with Editors’ Tom Smith. Although there is the odd good moment (the razzmatazz towards the latter stages of recent single Because I Know That I Can was a pleasant surprise), it’s all a bit too mopey.


3/5

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