
The world of pop music, which is ever-changing in trends and fashions every hour of every day it seems, is an incredibly fickle one. For one thing, there is the injustice of a songwriter who tries so long to break into the upper echelons,deserves to in fact, and is unrelenting in his/her attempt to breakthrough. However, when all eyes are on people like Ke$ha and N-Dumb, they just won’t get a look in.
You look at the current UK singles chart and amongst all the names that feature you wonder why people like Fyfe Dangerfield are not there. Who is Fyfe Dangerfield, you may ask? Dangerfield is one quarter of Guillemots, who in 2006 released the outstanding Through The Window Pane – a yearning, emotive and heartfelt pop record. Their follow up in 2008, Red, saw them try to pull off too many new tricks to impress their critics and in the process lost some of what made them so special in the first place. Either way, they were (and still are, since they’re working on a third album) a breath of fresh air.
For the time being though, Fyfe has released his first solo album, Fly Yellow Moon. A reality TV show contestant’s debut album this ain’t. Despite only spending under a week recording the ten songs that ultimately feature, they’re all love songs and the temptation to call this some sort of concept album would be, whilst entirely plausible, completely unfair. These are all songs that, in the end, are just a collection of songs that he wrote from over the past few years, although it’s unclear whether any of them are rejected Guillemots songs.
There’s also a lot of things to like on Fly Yellow Moon. Fans of Through The Window Pane will rejoice as these songs match the playfully ambitious pop and the tender balladry of that album, albeit a touch stripped down in sound. It also helps that whenever Fyfe opens his mouth to sing you get a sense of immediate conviction in what he is saying, one of his strongest traits as a songwriter. Lyrics like “Livewire, your life is in the fire/You got everything to play for/1-1, half time” on Livewire could be wrongfully treated by other singers but Fyfe makes them sound elegant sounding and, yes, soppily romantic.
There are plenty of other moments of soppy romanticism that work just as well. So Brand New and High On The Tide are both charmingly wistful and breezy and live long in the memory.
But enough about the beautiful soppiness, as there are plenty of other songs that sound big, majestic and euphoric and ones that Guillemots fans will immediately fall in love with. If you’re not toe-tapping to the immediate opening salvo of When You Walk In The Room then you are insane. Its groove is utterly relentless and infectious as Fyfe sings of lust and wonder amidst a backdrop of thundering piano chords. It might be not cutting-edge but it’s good fun. There’s even more songs of the uplifting variety to come. Faster Than The Setting Sun might just be one of the best songs that Fyfe has ever written and by the end you’ll be singing along to the chorus refrain like there was no tomorrow. Essentially, Fly Yellow Moon is a vibrant and exuberant pop album that will please the ears of anyone who’ll give the album a chance. Unlike most of the chart stars in the UK, Fyfe Dangerfield is the real deal.
Posted on February 25th, 2010 by Max
Filed under: Albums, Reviews | 1 Comment »