Sometimes music reviewing can be a little bit like gardening; (I know what your thinking, Gav ate the wrong mushrooms again, but bare with me) in some ways, it's a little bit like planting tomatoes, but instead of watering you're writing and at the end of it all, the finished article is the fruit, the best ones are then used to generate sales (though instead of a greengrocer's it's through iTunes). It's that process of nurturing and this really only comes into play when you're faced with a new artist releasing a debut...you might not say outright that you've contributed to success, that's just arrogant, but you've seen it grow from day one and you can appreciate when it all blossoms. Just like the fruit, if the farmer grows a good crop, they sell well, people come back for more...the same can be said for musicians...if they like a write up and trust a publisher, they will come back for another write-up next time round....and you repeat. This is an incredibly long winded analogy to get to my initial point and I apologize, truthfully it sounded better in my head but I digress...back in September of last year I reviewed the debut EP "You" by a gentleman called ALBERT BEVIA who hails from Segorbe, Spain. His love of dark 80's new-romantic pop was a surprise as it's not something the Spanish are typically renowned for, however, he did the era plenty of justice. He's been in touch again recently and he's been kind enough to forward me his follow up EP; "Strange As You"...my tomatoes are good...
We start the EP like we would start a beautiful Summer's day...with opening track "Like A Sunrise" and it has that aura about it, you've woken up on a Saturday morning, the sun is shining, you haven't got work, life is good...it's got such a light, positive vibe to it, it really insists on making you smile with it's jovial tone, but there's a slightly contrasting depth to Albert's vocal that, coupled with the style of music here really would appeal to fans of say, THE CURE or DIIV; that rich 80's influence still very much a part of his sound. Referring back to his previous EP, one thing that was clear was his love of infusing melancholia within the quirkiness of his music and this continues here on "The One I'll Never Have"...while clearly a song about longing, in it's own ways is upbeat and pays homage to the likes of THE SMITHS. You can almost hear MORRISSEY echoed through Albert's vocals.
The throwback's never stop either...the title track "Strange As You" is again, up-beat with an incredibly funky bass-driven sound, Albert delivers some delicate soft notes among his usual, typically colder, morose vocals and overall musically, this one will suit fans of say, DURAN DURAN, while elsewhere, tracks such as "I Lied To You" and "A Sign Of Life" close-off the EP with a generally more subdued, restrained feel to them...melodic, yes, easy on the ears as always but, if you compare the two EP's this one lacks a certain something...Older tracks such as "Dear Dad..." had a little more bite to them than anything produced here and while that's not to say these songs aren't as good, another track like that wouldn't go a miss. If you look at the covers for each EP though the intention is that it was clearly the plan anyway...although incredibly simplistic, (One is white, one is black) it shows the separation between light and dark, it's that classic Saturday night / Sunday morning effect...this second EP is clearly the morning after the night before as they say, designed to be more delicate. Strange as you? I guess that depends, softer though? Yes, definitely softer...just like my tomatoes...[6]
We start the EP like we would start a beautiful Summer's day...with opening track "Like A Sunrise" and it has that aura about it, you've woken up on a Saturday morning, the sun is shining, you haven't got work, life is good...it's got such a light, positive vibe to it, it really insists on making you smile with it's jovial tone, but there's a slightly contrasting depth to Albert's vocal that, coupled with the style of music here really would appeal to fans of say, THE CURE or DIIV; that rich 80's influence still very much a part of his sound. Referring back to his previous EP, one thing that was clear was his love of infusing melancholia within the quirkiness of his music and this continues here on "The One I'll Never Have"...while clearly a song about longing, in it's own ways is upbeat and pays homage to the likes of THE SMITHS. You can almost hear MORRISSEY echoed through Albert's vocals.
The throwback's never stop either...the title track "Strange As You" is again, up-beat with an incredibly funky bass-driven sound, Albert delivers some delicate soft notes among his usual, typically colder, morose vocals and overall musically, this one will suit fans of say, DURAN DURAN, while elsewhere, tracks such as "I Lied To You" and "A Sign Of Life" close-off the EP with a generally more subdued, restrained feel to them...melodic, yes, easy on the ears as always but, if you compare the two EP's this one lacks a certain something...Older tracks such as "Dear Dad..." had a little more bite to them than anything produced here and while that's not to say these songs aren't as good, another track like that wouldn't go a miss. If you look at the covers for each EP though the intention is that it was clearly the plan anyway...although incredibly simplistic, (One is white, one is black) it shows the separation between light and dark, it's that classic Saturday night / Sunday morning effect...this second EP is clearly the morning after the night before as they say, designed to be more delicate. Strange as you? I guess that depends, softer though? Yes, definitely softer...just like my tomatoes...[6]
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