Review of: 'Restless Minds' by Ward Thomas

It's awesome to see UK country music on the up. The Shires may have been responsible for starting it when 'Brave' became the first ever UK country album to peek inside the top ten of the charts, but I don't think anyone could have been prepared for what was about to come next. Seemingly out of nowhere, Ward Thomas, a duo consisting of twin sisters Lizzy and Catherine Ward Thomas scored a historic number one album with their 2015 release 'Cartwheels', making them, just like that, the most successful UK country artists in history. Just like that. 

And it would be wrong to say that this has not had any impact in the UK country scene. After all, Catherine McGrath produced some pretty damn good pop country on 'Talk of This Town' last year, and US pop country artists like Florida Georgia Line and Kelsea Ballerini are as relevant as they've ever been in the UK thanks to collaborations with Bebe Rexha and The Chainsmokers respectively. Even if I'm not the biggest fan of either of those songs, it does show an audience at least more willing to accept country artists into the UK pop scene. 

But what I find most baffling about the whole situation is why Ward Thomas aren't in that group of country artists who are breaking through onto the UK singles chart. After all, they have a number one album under their belt, their production is poppy and accessible while (mostly) not sacrificing their distinct country core, and I'm sure with the right marketing, the duo could be the pioneers of a much bigger revolution in mainstream country music, and I think the charts would be better for it. 

And this new album ‘Restless Minds’ seems to be the latest attempt at wrestling country instrumentation into a pop framework, with songwriters who have previously worked with the likes of Olly Murs, Take That and One Direction. It was clear from this that the plan with this album was to go for even more pop crossover than ever, and I’m not directly opposed to that, and I went into this album with a fair bit of hope that it could be pretty solid. So, how was ‘Restless Minds’? 

Unfortunately, it was slightly less than I expected. And that certainly does not mean that this album is bad at all. Overall, I would say I enjoyed my time with this album, even though I don’t think it’s quite as consistently strong as ‘Cartwheels’ before it, and it’s quite hard to pin down exactly why that is, mainly because the problems I have with this album are a bit all over the map, almost to the extent that the only consistent element of this album are the girls themselves and their harmonies, and they sound great pretty much on all the songs here, although there are some elements of the vocal production that feel more than a little unnecessary. Why the producers thought pitching down the main vocal line on ‘Rather Be Breathing’ would flatter that production I have no idea, and the ugly synthetic layer sitting just below the vocals in the mix on the utterly throwaway closer ‘This Too Will Pass’ are undoubtedly weaker moments on this album, but they’re in the overwhelming minority. 

What I find more frustrating might just be the production across these fifteen tracks, which alternates between being melodically understated and atmospheric like on ‘Changing’ and ‘Hopeless’ and ‘No Fooling Me’, and some of the clunkiest, most horrendously overstuffed instrumentals Ward Thomas have ever had. ‘Rather Be Breathing’ is easily the biggest offender in this category with the grading whistle sound and underweight bleeping synth on the hook being crushed by percussion that’s way too loud, but the thin drums killing the grooves on ‘Never Know’ and ‘Little Girl Sorrow’ are not far behind, and the thin snaps on ‘No Fooling Me’ do nothing to elevate the more organic production 

‘Same Love’ might open with a promising electric guitar groove, but that overweight bass and stiff percussion ruin the vibe. The bass sounds much better when it’s just gently supporting the main guitar groove like on ‘Changing’. 

But my issues with this album are encapsulated by the track ‘Ain’t That Easy’, one of the better songs on the album. Thin blatantly programmed percussion on the verses that are crushed in the mix, but by the time the hook rolls around the drums sound real. If real drums are going to come in later in the song anyway, then why even bother programming in drums in the first place and compromise the organic country elements of

the production 

Having said all of that, there are songs that do sound pretty good. The bouncy groove driven by the acoustic guitar on ‘I Believe In You’ is pretty infectious, as is the genuinely intense dark piano and strings that builds up around the edges of ‘Little Girl Sorrow’ that sounds pretty damn great. Even if it’s unbelievably overproduced, I’d mostly give a pass to the smoky waves of synth that serve as the intro to the album on ‘No Filter’, mostly because that hook is so damn catchy. ‘Deepest You’ is a standout for how well the swells of strings cushion that gorgeous electric guitar, but on the other end of the spectrum you get a song like ‘It’s Not Just Me’ with its cute fluttering piano, or ‘One More Goodbye’, where the straightforward presentation gives the song a certain human earnestness that works with the way that song is written. 

But on that note, how is the writing on this album? Well, you certainly get your inessential relationship / breakup songs like the generic head vs heart conflict on ‘Hopeless’ and empowerment anthems like ‘I Believe In You’, but deep down Ward Thomas are better songwriters than that, and, just like on ‘Cartwheels’, they show off their skills in spirts across this album. ‘No Filter’ sets the stage with its ideas about how we use social media as a filter to dictate how other people perceive us from the outside, and ‘Lie Like Me’ takes that one step further by suggesting that it’s bad thing that the kids of today aspire to be like the people they see on social media, because of how these people are filtering themselves. 

But from that moment, the thematic arc seems to shift to topics that are a lot less interesting.  ‘It’s Not Just Me’ goes for a generic ‘you are not alone’ message with lyrics like ‘I’m just trying to keep on trying’, while ‘Changing’ is equally nondescript in its exploration of how they’ve changed, and ‘I Believe In You’ is the token

empowerment anthem that is the definition of filler. 

There are also songs that leave me more confused than anything else. Sure, I get a song like ‘One More Goodbye’ as the duo discuss leaving for Nashville for a bit and leaving their partners behind to make that next step in their careers, but the text is so vague and nonspecific that I don’t feel like I’m getting that true experience, I don’t get the impression that the song is being delivered by someone who has lived that. ‘No Fooling Me’ falls into this category too as it talks about a guy that has people ‘queuing as far as the eye can see’, but the duo’s attempts to convince us that this guy just sees these people as numbers on his phone don’t seem routed in a lot of evidence, and the song makes the guy sound a lot kinder than it’s probably trying to. 

But after all of that, there are still a fair few songs I would like to highlight for their adventures songwriting. ‘Ain’t That Easy’ is clever in the way it takes the fantasy of what this relationship could be like, but flips it by suggesting that such a fantasy, however amazing it would be, is never going to actually be achievable, and that youthful fantasy picks up a lot of weight when it’s placed alongside songs like ‘Changing’ that are more reflective in their discussions of youth and childhood. ‘Never Know’ takes a broken relationship and frames it as the girl reflecting on whether or not her once was partner still thinks about her with the knowledge that she was willing to get more serious in the relationship, before coming to the conclusion that it doesn't matter and she should just get over it, even if the guy is still very much not over her

In contrast to getting over someone, ‘Little Girl Sorrow’ tackles what it means to confront personal issues head on rather than try to step around them, while ‘Deepest You’ discusses finding passion in unlikely places, both of which are ideas that come out pretty well in their respective songs, and make me frustrated that we couldn’t have had more ideas like this on the album instead of blandly written filler. 

But despite this, I think it would be very wrong to call this album bad as I do like a fair chunk of the songs here. However, I think it is equally fair to say that the writing is often painfully underweight, and the album is incredibly overproduced in spots. But if this is what it’s going to take to shove Ward Thomas closer to the pop charts, I’m on board. 

 3 / 5 

Best Songs: ‘No Filter’, ‘Ain’t That Easy’, ‘Never Know’, ‘Little Girl Sorrow’, ‘Deepest You’ 

Worst Songs: ‘Rather Be Breathing’, ‘Same Love’ 

Review of: 'Sick Boy' by The Chainsmokers

I am very aware that covering this album is essentially pointless, especially considering that it's been months since it was officially released, and the duo have seemed to have slipped out of the public eye. A critically panned album with 'Memories... Do Not Open' probably didn't help that, but overall I was never a huge fan of the group to begin with, and therefore I have no issue with them slipping out of the public consciousness. In fact, I was actually going into this album with a fair bit of hope that some time outside of the spotlight could give the group an opportunity to refine their sound into something more interesting; I was not expecting this to happen, but I am fascinated by the potential of an album like this. I was looking forward to seeing The Chainsmokers pick themselves up after a crazy year in 2016, an album that was not received, and further refine their image, music and songwriting. So, did 'Sick Boy' deliver?


No. Not even the benefit of lowered expectations could save an album that feels limp and underweight instrumentally, and frail and really quite obnoxious and self obsessed at points from being thuddingly mediocre at best, and blindingly offensive at worst. And there is one fundamental issue that runs through the album in its entirety. The album demands that I sympathise with Chainsmokers frontman Andrew Taggart...and I don't. This is coming from the same guy who spent 2016 as on of the most successful artists with a net worth of $45.5 million, pretty much cultivated all in that one year alone, and yet over and over again on this album Taggart demands that I sympathise with him because I could not possibly know the pains of being the centre of attention in the music industry. Ugh.


This isn't just on one song either, it's a crucial thematic component that runs across the entire album. 'Everybody Hates Me' is easily the most direct example which shows the duo mindlessly wallowing in the drama of knowing that everyone hates them when they walk into a club, but 'Sick Boy' might be even worse in its attempts to establish some east coast - west coast conflict in its verses, only to backpedal away from any conflict outside of Taggart's personal struggles that, as I've already established, I have no interest in hearing with lines like 'how many likes is my life worth?'. Yes. This is the level of lyrical intellect we are getting here.


But the worst example by far is 'You Owe Me' in which Taggart spends the chorus downright insulting his audience by insisting that while they might be suffering with mental health issues, whatever they're suffering through could not possibly compare to the pressures that he has to endure within the music industry. In other words, looking down in your audience in the most obnoxious way possible, without anything in the way of self aware commentary that could make it tolerable. The kind of baffling display of incompetent songwriting that is no doubt this album at its worst.


But it's not like the production is elevating the mediocre songwriting that turns up on the majority of this album. From the utter waste of the otherwise talented Kelsea Ballerini on 'This Feeling', to Winona Oak doing her best Julia Michaels impression on 'Hope' with strikingly similar vocal production to her song 'I Miss You', to Emily Warren being unimpressive and generally uncharismatic on 'Side Effects', even if the tight bass groove on that song has a surprising amount of bite to it, and I do like that song.


But between songs that feel cold and hollow like 'This Feeling', no the kind of things you want to be associating with a song about the feeling of being in love with a drop that sounds very recycled, songs like 'Sirens' that sounds like a Skrillex reject, and 'Sick Boy' and 'You Owe Me' that sound melodramatic in their attempts to cultivate some smoky atmosphere that neither song effectively pulls off, mainly because the lyrics are self indulgent and pointless.


And that pretty much sums it up. Not an artistic advancement, but a decline into pointless melodrama that was not for me whatsoever.


2 / 5


Best Songs: 'Side Effects', 'This Feeling'


Worst Songs: 'You Owe Me', 'Sirens'

Review of: 'The Pains Of Growing' by Alessia Cara

I thought I knew exactly what I was going to get with this. Alessia Cara's biggest hits like 'Here', and the track with Logic and Khalid '1-800-273-8255' have always dabbled in subject matter that showed her as a bit of an outsider in modern pop. She had the same lumbering, uninteresting production (even if 'I'm Yours' still totally holds up as a great song) that plagued songs like her hit 'Scars To Your Beautiful', but was able to bring a fair amount of nuance to the roles she played within her songs. 'Here' framed her as the antisocial pessimist at a party they really did not want to go to, and '1-800-273-8255' had her playing the role of the call taker as Logic's character contemplates suicide in the first verse. There was clearly something interesting to her song writing style that appealed to me, to the extent that I was fairly excited to cover this album.

Furthermore, and I know I've said this an awful lot over the course of these reviews, but the album also seems like it would be thematically made for me given its title and the stage I'm at in my life. I was looking forward to a refreshing pop album that would really work for me. A lot of this relies on whether or not the production that Cara has behind her can properly back her up like it does so well on 'I'm Yours' on that debut album. So, with all that in mind, how is Alessia Cara's 'The Pains Of Growing'?

This album really shed light on one thing for me; Alessia Cara is too good a pop songwriter to be wasted on production that she gets on the majority of this album. Make no mistake, 'The Pains Of Growing' is indeed a very good album, but lacking that final punch to carry it into greatness, and in order to explain why this is, we need to start by discussing the instrumentation and production, easily the most inconsistent element of this album, and I wouldn't say it was bad more that it was a bit boring and uninspired with the biggest offender being the snooze fest 'A Little More'. The album also doesn't precisely start with it's best cuts either. I'm a bit more forgiving of the slightly stiffer tracks like the lumbering opener 'Growing Pains' thanks to the swampy swell of the bass that gives that song a unique impact that is not really translated anywhere else on the album, but the stripped back production approach on 'Not Today' and especially 'I Don't Want To' might be melodic, but the furthest thing from interesting and do nothing to elevate Cara's expressive song writing. You could easily throw 'Wherever I Live' and 'Out Of Love' into this category too, but the song writing on those songs (and we'll discus this later) is breath-taking.

But if you're looking for the production to bring any kind of intensity to Cara's commentary, you might as well just give up now. The closest you're going to get is the legitimately great 'Nintendo Game' which is easily the most intricate and textured songs here, not to mention catchy.

But the biggest offender on this album is undoubtedly 'Trust My Lonely', where, outside of a stiff drum machine, all you get is a bleeping melody and some distant flutters of synth. A song that not even Cara's song writing can elevate.

But now let's get to that song writing, and I'll say this for Alessia Cara, she certainly was thorough in her deconstruction of what it means to grow up. From not wanting to let the guy go 'I Don't Want To' and 'A Little More', to questioning her personal identity on so many songs here. Take 'Wherever I Live' for instance, a song simple song where Cara discusses her sense of place with the kind of unique charm that made me like her work in the first place. 'Out Of Love' is an equally simple song as Cara hopelessly reminisces over a failed relationship wondering helplessly when it all went wrong. Simple in concept, but gorgeous in it's execution and song writing.

'Nintendo Game' is equally strong in its song writing, taking a uniquely modern approach to explaining a relationship that works exceptionally well in a present day context discussing young love written by someone that understands that context.

'7 Days' might be even better in it's contemplation of whether or not a God would look down on Earth and be proud of what they did in creating us, all crafted to fit into a pop context whilst still carrying a considerable punch.

But that leaves is with 'Easier Said', probably the best song on the album. The line 'Healing and patience are lovers / Don't place the blame on your heart just to shut 'em up' might be the best line I heard in pop in 2018, especially coming out of an album so driven by it's desire to understand what it means to grow up, and everything that comes with that, whether that be questioning your faith, your place, or anything else. Beautiful song.

To conclude, this is an album that I want to love, but ultimately can't due to inconsistent production. There are some gems, though.

3.5 / 5

Best Songs: 'Easier Said', '7 Days', 'Nintendo Game', 'Wherever I Live', 'Out Of Love'

Worst Songs: 'Trust My Lonely'

Top 3 Albums I Reviewed in 2018

Let's start 2018 year end lists with the easiest one to put together, her are my three favourite albums that I covered on this blog during the year.


2018 has been my most successful year in terms of covering albums on this blog, covering over twenty in the year. I am aiming for at least fifty in 2019, that way I should be able to expand this list to ten rather than three. But the rules are simple: I must have reviewed it in 2018. Let's get on with the list.


3. MØ - Forever Neverland


This sophomore album by the 'Final Song' singer and songwriter was a force to reckoned with in 2018. The kind of album filled with the kind of youthful exuberance that I found infectious from the start and refused to let go. If there's one thing I learned about myself over the course of the year, it was that I love music that focusses on a longing for youth that is framed self-awarely, and there's so many underrated layers to this album that fill into that category that work for me on so many levels. From songs about the stupidity at the core of the glorification of depression ('Blur'), to more conversationally written songs filled with detail about teenage love ('Nostalgia').


The amount of tiny nuances that fill up this album is amazing, and it's all combined with some of the most intricate pop production that puts Chvrches's 'Love Is Dead' to shame. From outstanding pre choruses on songs like 'I Want You', the intriguingly disjoined vibe that 'If It's Over' and 'Imaginary Friend' offer, to the gorgeous vocal production on 'Blur' and 'Beautiful Wreck'. All of these are amazing moments and the album is a fascinating case study on teenage attitudes in today's world. In other words, one of the best albums I covered this year.


2. With Confidence - Love And Loathing


I had no idea I needed this album until I got it. I was hoping after 'Better Weather' that With Confidence would understand their strengths as a band and put together a heavier, more brutal pop rock album that took more risks instrumentally. Quite literally the last thing I would have wanted from them to do was put together a frailer, overall less abrasive and poppier album. I have no idea who suggested this would be an even remotely good idea, but, whoever they are, they are a total genius.


In no way should this album work, but the detailed authentic storytelling goes so far beyond what I could have possibly expected. Jayden Seely paints an emotional picture of the girl that meant everything to him leaving his life and the rush of conflicting emotions that comes with such a revelation. He spends the album confused. Emotional, but having no clear idea what to channel those emotions into. He blames himself for what happened on 'Better', before channelling those same emotions into raw hatred and disgust for the girl in question on 'Icarus'. But then the album pulls an 'Astoria'. The moment that Seely tries to commit to getting over her on 'The Turnaround', she comes back into his life, just as emotional, lost and confused as our protagonist. 'Spinning' is the turning point where an overjoyed Jayden Seely thinks his dreams have just come true (again).


But one song later on 'Bruise' you understand that the girl didn't come back in search of love, just somewhere to numb her own pain. Or, as Seely sings himself, 'pressing on a bruise just to feel something', leaving them both lonely once more as Seely regrets letting his emotion get the better of him.


All of this builds to an emotional climax on 'Dopamine', but then you get the stunning final song 'Tails'. The emotions have settled and Seely clearly knows that his emotions will linger, but after two failed relationships with one girl, instead of chasing his tail and trying desperately to make it work, he is focussed on setting his sights forward, and focussing on other challenges life will throw at him.


And that's all without discussing Mike Green's production on these twelve tracks, which is great. Green has this talent and production instinct, particularly around the bass, that is unparalleled by most working in his lane. What. An. Album.


1. Lori McKenna - The Tree


There was no other album this year. It might not have been the album I listened to most this year, and it's certainly not the easiest album to listen to, but Lori McKenna and Dave Cobb put together yet another masterpiece with the follow up to their collaboration 'The Bird And The Rifle', 'The Tree'. Not only is the production as rich and organic as ever courtesy of Dave Cobb, but McKenna is on another level in terms of her writing.


'The Fixer' is the first real sign that McKenna has lost none of her natural talent as she paints a picture of a title character who seems to have all the means to fix whatever you throw at him, but he can't fix his broken relationship, and has no cure for the heartbreak. But that does not prepare you for the quite incredible album centrepiece 'You Won't Even Know I'm Gone'. The song tells the story of a breakup where the girl is trying to make it go down as easy as possible for a nameless guy as she moves out, emphasising all the mundane details as she prepares to leave the house for the last time.


And, just like MØ, McKenna reflects on her teenage years on 'The Lot Behind St. Mary's' to amazing results, before 'Like Patsy Would' ends the album on a tear inducing note. It's amazing how little there is to say about this album, and yet it's the best I have ever covered on this blog.


Let's hope 2019 can measure up. More year end lists on the way.

Review of: 'A Brief Enquiery Into Online Relationships' by The 1975

It's always hard going into an album like this one. An album by a band that have had plenty of positive reviews thrown their way, and yet has slightly slipped through for you personally and you've ended up not giving them all that much of your time. That's The 1975 for me. An act I've only ever found the time to enjoy in small doses. That doesn't mean to say that I wasn't listening when 'Chocolate' and 'The Sound' were generating a lot of hype in the UK. And while those are great songs, they did not give me the motivation to check out either their self titled debut, or their follow up 'I Like It When You Sleep For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It'.

But then 'Give Yourself A Try' happened. It did take an awful long time to grow on me, but once it clicked, Matthew Healy's message to a younger generation that admire his music to forget about what other people think of them and stop trying to change themselves in order to fit in with what could be considered the social norm, and simply try and accept themselves for who they are ended up having a surprising amount of weight. Combined with having a lot of small, intricate details in the writing, and being a well produced song in its own right, I was actually kind of looking forward to a new album from The 1975.

But then you get the album title: 'A Brief Enquiry Into Online Relationships'. I went from looking forward to this album, to being genuinely excited when I heard this is what they were going to be calling it. It almost sounds like it was made for me. A deconstruction of the online environment and how socially anxious teenagers can see it as an escape and an opportunity to bond with others outside of real life situations, and how venerable people (not just teenagers) can be prayed on by people looking to exploit them. See my review of MØ's 'Forever Neverland' to understand why that's a concept that is likely to appeal to me.


My only hope going into this album is that it wouldn't be brief as the title suggests that it will be. I was looking forward to a layered, well written deconstruction all framed to address the problems with the online teenage relationship. Did we get that with 'A Brief Enquiry Into Online Relationships'?


Yes and no. This is not the first time this has happened this year. The 1975 have delivered an album that I did not expect, and am not sure if I even wanted, and, just like With Confidence before them, still manage to deliver a detailed, thematically dense if not cohesive album. You see, however much The 1975 discuss issues of youth culture and teenagers in their lyrics, the thematic arc of this album is broader than I was personally hoping for: relationships as a whole. Whether that be the typical teenager-social media relationship on  'The Man Who Married a Robot / Love Theme' and in the subtext of 'Give Yourself A Try' and 'Sincerity Is Scary', or how young minds can struggle to make the right decisions in relationships like how frontman Matty Healy admits to cheating on his girlfriend on 'TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME' or a few songs later on 'Be My Mistake' when Healy tries to hook up with another girl as he struggles to acknowledge the fact that in order to find 'the one', he is going to make some mistakes, even if those mistakes weigh hard on the young mind.


The album does get more distinctly personal in its final third. 'It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)' tackles Healy's issues with heroine addiction before 'Surrounded By Heads And Bodies' where we get an underwritten, ambiguous look into the rehabilitation process.


But then you get the songs that more aimed at society as a whole like 'Love It If We Made It' where Healy lists everything he thinks is wrong with society, with the implication on the hook being that Healy would be impressed if humanity makes it through. 'I Like America & America Likes Me' falls into similar territory with a strong message as Healy voices his opinion on guns in America.


But then you get a song clearly directed at the band teenage audience: 'Give Yourself A Try'. The message being to trust yourself and who you are and what you stand for rather than some filtered version of yourself that you project onto social media. One line did stand out to me, though: 'Jane took her own life at sixteen / She was the kid who had the box tattooed on her arm'. What was in that box, no one will ever know.


But that moves us onto the production, and it might honestly be where this album lets me down a little bit. Don't get me wrong, the razer tight guitar that anchors the main melody on 'Give Yourself A Try' is awesome, but when the band use a similar tone on the sluggish 'Inside Your Mind', it doesn't fit anywhere near as well, no matter how many effects you throw on it. Or take 'I Couldn't Be More In Love', a song that could have worked if Healy wasn't pushed into a vocal range that really does not flatter his voice.


Then there's the instrumentally meandering songs 'How To Draw / Petrichor' and 'Inside Your Mind'. I would throw 'The Man Who Married A Robot / Love Theme' into that category, if the narrative itself didn't ring as true as it ended up doing for me.


I certainly don't love every song on this album, probably pushing it just short of greatness for me, but when the production clicks, this album is a force to be reckoned with. The slick watery groove on 'TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME', the intimate vocal pickup emphasising the vulnerability on 'Be My Mistake', and the stunningly well balanced lush pop hook on 'It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)' are all highlights here.


And I'd be doing a disservice if I didn't mention the closing track 'I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)' for it's comments on meme culture connected with the idea of death, and even if I'm not a fan of the blaring hook, the production on the first verse is breath-taking with it's minimalist melody partnered with Healy's almost hopeless vocal delivery. Moments like this are more than enough to redeem the stiff, lumbering tracks like 'Love It If We Made It' and 'Sincerity Is Scary'.


In conclusion, it's almost ironic that inconsistences across the board muted this album's impact for me. If the album was more brief (as the title of the album suggests) we could have got a more consistent and therefore more impactful project overall, but, as it is, I still enjoyed this album quite a bit, even for its floors.


3.5 / 5


Best Songs: 'It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)', 'Be My Mistake' 'TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME', 'Give Yourself A Try'


Worst Songs: 'Inside Your Mind', 'How To Draw / Petrichor'

Review of: 'Runaway' by Passenger

It's been too long since we've talked about Passenger. I'm very aware that I'm (very) late to the party on this one, it came out in August after all, but I did want to discuss it at some point. Going back to my review of Passenger's seventh studio album 'Young As The Morning, Old As The Sea', I can easily see that it's not a great review. After all, I didn't really criticise, and yet ended up rating the album abnormally high. The album is only decent at best, with the brighter, more reflective moments being the most revealing and the most interesting. A very light 3 / 5 at best, if that, certainly not the 4 / 5 I gave it at the time. I was planning on covering his follow up album 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf' when it was released a year later, but on account of it not being interesting whatsoever, I decided to pass on that one.

But, a few listens through 'Runaway' convinced me that it was going to be worth covering, mainly because, for the most part, it's a return to form for Passenger. After two releases that have lacked a lot of meat or anything worth caring about, the introduction of a brighter instrumental pallet, more developed mature song writing, and a performer capable of selling all of it with considerable ease makes for an album that's pretty damn good. And the interesting thing is if you popified the production and writing a bit and gave the album to someone like George Ezra, whose career is built on these kind of songs, some of these songs could be considerable hits.


So, how did we get here? The change in production style is a huge part of all of this. 'Young As The Morning, Old Of The Sea' had the unfortunate tendency to default to much drier, uninteresting tones, or unspectacular arrangements. And while 'Why Can't I Change' could easily fit into this category, more often than we get brighter instrumentals that are just a lot more interesting. 'Ghost Town' and 'To Be Free' might be exceptions to this rule, but both of those songs work in their own subtle way. 'Eagle Bear Buffalo', 'Runaway' and especially 'Let's Go' have a enough unique texture that they work just fine as catchy songs. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have 'Ghost Town' with the more brittle, frail approach in the production that I like a fair bit, and Passenger underplaying in his vocals has always been great, he sounds really good on this album.


Speaking of underplaying, the track 'To Be Free' is the slow piano ballad on this album, and it sounds amazing, and the intense storytelling you get in the lyrics has always been one of Passenger's strengths. But how does the song writing hold up across the rest of the album? It's a bit of a mixed bag. Take 'Why Can't I Change' as a good example of why I don't think the writing entirely works, or is at the very least inconsistent. On the song, Passenger is clearly looking for some form of sympathy for finding it hard to change (and potentially adapt to a changing musical climate that is leaving him behind), but why is it a bad thing that he's not changed? It just seems like a really odd reason why someone would want sympathy.


'He Leaves You Cold' is another example. The way that Passenger is trying to make choices for this girl in who she wants to be with strikes me as a bit presumptive and unkind, even if he tries to use the girl's actions around the other guy to justify his case.


Then you get songs like the non descript, but certainly decent to good songs like 'Let's Go',  'Eagle Bear Buffalo' and 'Runaway' which are all Passenger in a very comfortable lane. But they are nothing in comparison to the best songs here: 'Hell Or High Water' and 'To Be Free'. The latter is Passenger reflecting on the chaos of a breakup and wondering whether it was simply fate taking its course, or if they could have somehow prevented it and spared themselves the pain. 'To Be Free' meanwhile is about Passenger's farther, originally from Vineland, New Jersey, and his journey that ends with him meeting his mother in nineteen-eighty-one. A touching story that grows all the more personal when the perspective is shifted in the song's dying moments and Passenger begins singing about himself instead of his farther. A great moment.


This and the closing track 'Survivors' are great moments of well framed reflection, with the closing track showing Passenger seeing everyone around him in a constant state of panic, and wondering if there is anyone else who is content with life, like he is.


But overall, I don't think Passenger will ever top 'Wicked Man's Rest' or 'All The Little Lights', but this is most certainly a return to form and I can certainly respect that. More of this please Mike. We need more song writers like you.


3.5 / 5


Best Songs: 'Hell Or High Water', 'To Be Free', 'Survivors', 'Eagle, Bear Buffalo'


Worst Songs: 'Why Can't I Change', 'He Leaves You Cold'

Review of: 'Forever Neverland' by MØ

I was looking forward to this one a fair bit. In fact, ever since she had her hit 'Final Song' I was looking forward to a new album from MØ. The only thing that I was disappointed going in to this this album was the fact that 'Final Song' was not on it. Bit of a shame, but the single was quite old, and potentially represented MØ's desire to recreate her image into something that may not be as accessible, but might be more refined and experimental. So, what did we get on 'Forever Neverland'

We got a killer slice of electrifying synthpop. In short, MØ's 'Forever Neverland' is a razor sharp, yet endlessly melodic pop album that may be occasionally thematically muddled and all over the place, but kind of works regardless. After all, 'Forever Neverland' is an album about, precisely that: youth, so it kind of makes sense that it would not be as thematically refined as say, With Confidence's 'Love And Loathing' that I covered in August, an album rooted in truth and honest feelings. 'Forever Neverland' however is anchored in youthful exuberance and a reflection on better times. It is easy to see as a bit cliché on the surface, but the personal details that MØ provides over the course of the album, particularly on songs like 'Nostalgia' allow this album to land with considerably more punch than might initially meet the eye.

And to begin exploring more precisely why this is, we need to talk about MØ's vocals across the album. It may be easy to place her among the ever growing list of female pop stars looking to imitate Lorde's vocal style, but, even if you do place her on that list, which I personally think might be a bit unfair, she is top tier. She has plenty of distinct presence that you could easily pick her out of a line-up of female pop stars courtesy of her more restraint delivery. She also tends to have more interesting vocal production than a lot of other pop stars like the murky multitracked vocals on 'Blur' and 'Beautiful Wreck' that took a lot of time to fully grow on me, but these are great moments on the album.

Something else that sounds great on this album is the meticulous and superbly handled production. The hook on 'Way Down' has a tonne of subtle momentum, as well as being one of the more accessible hooks on the album with how damn catchy that main groove is. That subtle intensity might as well be this album's trademark quality. It comes up again with the build up into the rickety synth drop on 'I Want You' that sounds so good against MØ at her most expressive vocally. The acoustic guitar on 'Blur' does sound a bit out of place against that vocal production, and the honking synth tone used on the drop does lack dimension and does not sound to far removed from something Marshmallow or The Chainsmokers might use, but it still sounds fine.

And that word 'fine' essentially describes the production on this album at it's worse. 'If It's Over' is the most blatant example with easily the most grading synth tone on the entire album. Furthermore, the vocal production that Charlie XCX gets on the bridge is also grading, and clashes with not only the production on that song, but all throughout the album.


But, for every moment I don't like as much on this album, there are so many that amazes me. Diplo's production on 'Sun In Our Eyes' is nothing short of stunning. His chill, layback style is a perfect match MØ's performance and writing on that track: undoubtedly one of the best songs here, and one of the best pop songs of the year.


But now we need to get onto talking about the song writing, where MØ and her team of collaborators crafted a layered, thematically detailed, project with huge amounts of unique personality. And, make no mistake, this is easily enough to elevate this album into greatness, and to see the album have so little commercial success despite it having such a wide appeal is so frustrating. This album may be upbeat and happy a lot of the time like on 'I Want You', but it's also reflective on a youth well spent. I love how conversational a song like 'Nostalgia' feels with MØ painting a straightforward picture of the first time she was in love and packing it with the kind of unique, precise, personal detail that I love. 'I Want You' might play in much simpler territory in terms of exploring a first love, but the way the lyrics imply MØ's determination to just charge forward with her passion for this guy is an amazingly teenage sentiment that fits into the album superbly.


But there are also break up songs amongst the track list. 'Mercy' is the first big one, with MØ acknowledging she could have done better in the relationship, but is begging with her boyfriend to keep her. Is it melodramatic? Yes. But in a way similar to that of another pop album: Lorde's 'Melodrama'. This album worked by delving head first into the chaos and melodrama and using that to represent elements of the teenage mind. The same thing is going on here. The line 'I thought no matter what I did you'd stay with me' stands out particularly as it highlights how the teenage mind has a tendency to over fantasise and not often acknowledge that their actions may have consequences. MØ's failure to understand that the worst could happen and this guy could in fact leave her whenever he chooses, regardless of whether she likes it or not, has a lot of impact, being a teenager myself.


'If It's Over' is another one that fits into this category, but this time MØ and Charlie XCX seems a lot more understanding of their partner's decision. They just want to get over the guy in question and not bury themselves in the sadness of the situation. But the more vulnerable tracks on the album like the interlude 'West Hollywood' reveals someone who just want to get away from the chaos of life. This might be the most relatable sentiment on the entire album.


It's further expanded on songs like 'Red Wine', a song about alcohol with the subtext established all across the album hinting at how alcohol can be seen as a whole new world of exploration by the teenage mind, but, as you grow older, you begin to lose that, and alcohol becomes just another thing. The specific details like this one that are littered throughout the album are amazing.


'Imaginary Friend' is a tad broader in its exploration of the teenage imagination, but given what MØ goes through on this album, it's no surprise she feels the desire to retreat back into her imagination for a moment. But the teenage melodrama takes a gorgeous turn on the next track. School is an environment where students are under pressure to perform. This combined with social anxiety, depression (a theme that was established earlier on the album on 'Blur') and anything else that could be making life difficult for teenagers can sometimes get too much. This is part of the reason why I think 'Trying To Be Good' is one of the best songs on this album. Taking the stress of life in general and seeing MØ throw it all behind her in a reckless attempt to escape it all in that glorious hook ('And I'm sick of, sick of trying / So sick of, sick of trying to be good') sounds amazing, I love the song.


But then you get the closing track 'Purple Like The Summer Rain'. Will MØ finally come to terms with the ultimate impossibility of eternal youth, or will she try to keep living like a teen forever? While it's never explicit what MØ's intentions are coming out of this album, but it is certainly clever in the way it ends. Near the end of the track, MØ breaks into a monologue (To be a child again / To not have to worry / About the responsibilities of adulthood) all about how she would value eternal youth before repeating the line 'So what is a girl to do?' at the end of the track. Again, it's melodramatic, but it knows it, and it owns it. The song then ends abruptly with a click, as if someone is turning a light off. A clever way of showing MØ come to the realisation that no, you can't go on living like the way she does all across this album. Undoubtedly the only way an album like this could end.


I needed this album. A glorious mess of teenage melodrama combined with tonnes of honest details, incredibly sharp pop production and wonderfully unique vocals. I can see this album doing it's job and connecting with the teenage audience it is looking for brilliantly. And that's the great thing: it can be layered, detailed, fascinating, and appeal to a target demographic without feeling pandering or overblown at any point. In other words, the kind of pop album Jess Glynne and her collaborators should be taking notes to. I was looking forward to a good pop album from MØ, but I was not ready for this level of thematic cohesion, detail and honesty. An amazing album that it pains me to see perform so badly commercially. I hope MØ gets another chance at mainstream crossover. Coming out of this album, she deserves it.


4 / 5


Best Songs: 'I Want You', 'Sun In Our Eyes', 'Nostalgia', 'Red Wine', 'Imaginary Friend', 'Trying To Be Good'


Worst Songs: 'If It's Over'