Followme&theidontgiveadamns - We've all got Armour...
Posted Sun 14 Sep 2008 17:01 by lazarus.
Followme & theIdontgiveadamns is a pretty unique name for a band, you have to admit. When I first heard it my train of thought immediately threw up a similarly strange named US band, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, though the two bands could hardly be further apart. Having dispelled all thoughts of the latter’s humorous hardcore shenanigans, I settled in to see what this CD had to offer. Keeping in line with the unnecessarily long band name, this four track EP goes by the moniker of We’ve All Got Armour Underneath Our Skin, and is mainly the work of one man, called Ben, armed with an acoustic guitar and a piano.
The four songs contained here are made up of very simple, clean, musical brush strokes. There is an uncluttered and spacious feel to it all, probably due to the lack of bass and drums. Offering a very much less-is-more approach, the acoustic rhythm guitar seems to create a solid framework to hang the ideas on, and the piano does all of the clever bits, with the hint of strings occasionally creeping through but probably a bit too distant in the mix. Anymore is a wistful look at rejection that has a lovely descending bass line threaded through it, and Wait and Talk has a similar subdued quality to it, but it is Would You Go that is the stand out track for me. With a gaggle of guest female vocalists, and built around piano and keyboard washes, it manages to create a wonderfully haunting soundscape. Play out song, Your Eyes Have It, puts me in mind of a laid back Maccabees, not the young Brighton tykes of recent years but the agit-folk band of yesteryear, mainly in the way the lyrics are delivered, but also in the overall sentiment and style.
I think the EP reminds me of a bunch of songs that are very much a work in progress. I don’t mean that unkindly, but in that they sound like jobbing demos that are yet to be built into bigger pieces and have more evocative musical building blocks added. Imagine listening to a band playing a live session at a radio station, slightly stripped down for ease, but in your mind you can hear the other elements that you know will be part of the live show when you see the band perform in the flesh. I assume that money, as ever, is the driving factor behind this rather than there being any other overriding artistic consideration. There is, as I have said, the hint of a string section, but in my opinion a solo violin or cello playing a more prominent role would really add another dimension to the songs.
That said, the tunes are great as they stand, working in familiar territory yet sounding unique despite this. It’s a good start from a musician who seems relatively new to the solo career, a path that can be as overwhelming as it is creatively unbridled. I do look forward to seeing how Ben’s music develops for, despite the flippancy of the chosen working name, he really does give a damn.
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