Search - Martin Newell :: Light Programme

A (refreshing) change of pace for Martin

Jim Molnar | Chicago, IL USA | 12/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Martin is doing a Joe Jackson type of thing at least some of the time here, having assembled a small combo of cooperative cohorts who serviceably accompany his varied riffings on archetypal pop. In this outing, some of the hyper-English overtones are doffed for a more Tin Pan Alley kind of approach. His lyrics are a bit more disjointed than usual, but the music is full of fun tone clusters and often glows with infectious grooves quite different from his usual marches and merseybeats.



"Blackout" sets the mood with a simple shuffle, introducing us to the new style, with a fun topic but impersonal words. "Trinity Square" is a throwback to Martin at his most British, with a Gilbert O'Sullivan-ness by way of Roy Wood lo-fi. Unlike the other tracks, it does not feature the band. The wistful ballad "Jacqui" is a heartfelt ode to the joys as they are of middle-aged relationships.



"My Lost Weekend" blues-es it up with chromatic flourishes and a smoothly deft melody. "Sun Over the Yard Arm" is the first of a pair of vamp-based pieces ("Sparkletown" is the other) that tread in "Miss Van Houten's Coffee Shop" territory. As usual Martin wears his beginning-with-the-letter-B influences on his sleeves but skirts pastiche with enormously appealing sincerity.



"Grenadine and Blue" is a stab at a "smoky" ballad, the kind that night-owls dine, puff, and sip during. The tune haunts. "Wait for the Rain", to some extent a Sinatra/Darin style jaunt, recycles some well-worn chord changes with some new ones.



For the last four songs the approach gets lighter. "After the Boy Gets In" seems to musingly celebrate the roots of domestication taking hold after half a century of independence. "Venus of the Essoldo" seems to admire an unattainable younger gal at the bar, in the best Red Rose Speedway style. "Rosebay Railway," despite sounding like that Wings album title, has a gorgeous melody and a vintage-Californian kind of transcendent execution. "Synergy," is a lighter than air bop ditty sung with endearing diffidence.



It's clear that Martin needed an artistic break from all the portentous and pervasive "Englishness" of previous work, and it's enjoyable to see him stretching like this. Sort of the musical equivalent of ruminating at the pub, iterative and, with any luck, self-healing.







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