Review of Edwyn Collins' 'Understated' LP for Artrocker magazine

Given his veteran status (his previous band, Orange Juice, started out in the late seventies) and recent health problems (a brain haemorrhage suffered less than a decade ago reduced him to repeating the four phrases ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘Grace Maxwell’ and ‘the possibilities are endless’ over and over), Edwyn Collins’ Understated is refreshingly youthful. Even more refreshing, though, is that it is youthful in several respects.

Musically, it has the same energy, the same buzz, of the much anticipated debut album from the latest hot act that NME has no doubt already labelled ‘the saviour of guitar music’. Whilst Too Bad, for example, has the same optimistic sound that made earlier material from The Beach Boys so seductive, It’s A Reason shows that Collins and his backing band are quite content to go at a slightly slower pace, to let the music do the talking. And, with the backing band Collins had behind him during the recording of Understated, no wonder; a supergroup-worthy combination of Primal Scream, The Pretenders, Dexys and Sex Pistols, with such talent to hand there were never going to be The Strokes Angles-era like fracases. You can tell.

Another beneficiary of the likes of Barrie Cadogan and Paul Cook both metaphorically and literally playing off each other is the innovation evident on the record. Whilst Collins stays true to his guitar-driven pop for the most part, and there’s the occasional lack of ‘edge’ (the chorus of Dilemma consists of little more than one simple line on a loop), there’s real diversity that often only the most artistic of musicians can achieve; Carry On, Carry On sounds as if it came before even Collins’ time, whereas by contrast 31 Years has a hint of the kind of surf pop that so many of today’s NME-heralded bands try so desperately – and thus fail – to achieve. It even sounds as if there are aspects of Baby Jean that were inspired by the parts of sunny Spain.

Most importantly, though, given his dice with death just eight years ago, the album gives the impression that Collins’ mindset is enormously rejuvenated. Even better, the Scotsman knows it. Almost four songs in a row, Collins makes his lust for life quite clear: on Forsooth he is feeling “alive” and “reborn”, there are no prizes for guessing where he is “living” and “breathing” on In The Now, with the album finishing with an ode to how “good” love has been to him that is as heartfelt as it is grateful.

Back in 2005, Collins repeating his belief in the possibilities being endless was considered a negative consequence of the brain haemorrhage. Now who, most probably quite literally, is laughing?

3/5

Released: 25th March 2013 (AED Records)

Review of The Sundowners' 'Hummingbird' single for Artrocker magazine

Let’s play a game of true or false: The Sundowners are a current, up-and-coming, Liverpudlian band? Surprisingly, true. ‘Surprising’ in the sense that debut single, Hummingbird – produced by James and Ian Skelly of The Coral fame and released on the band’s own record label, Thin Skin Records – could not be less ‘current’ and ‘Liverpudlian’. To start, the sound is of a real vintage feel (perhaps exaggeratedly so); the guitars are bordering on being more jangly than The Smiths (!), whilst the vocals seemingly adopt the belief that strength comes in numbers, much like, say, The Beach Boys did and still do. Comparisons to bands that aren’t quite so ‘current’, then. Secondly, Hummingbird is 2 minutes 36 seconds of Americana-laced sunshine. Were Americana and sunshine to be our whole nation’s currency, let alone just the city of Liverpool’s, our financial situation would be... Well, our financial situation would be much like it is now but you get the point. What cannot be disputed, though, is the popularity of old school-styled artists and bands, like The Sundowners, at the moment – you could even say they were ‘up-and-coming’. Handy.

4/5