has arrived in the wake of the remarkable
praise lavished on his first release – last years E.P. “The Early Learnings
of Eugene McGuinness” – which saw Drowned in Sound drawing comparison between the youthful McGuiness and everyone
from Morrissey to Alex Turner,
| Artist | Eugene McGuinness | III |
| Title | Eugene McGuinness | |
| Label | Domino | |
| Myspace | www.myspace.com/eugenemcguinness85 |
This, McGuinness’s first full length album,
has arrived in the wake of the remarkable
praise lavished on his first release – last years E.P. “The Early Learnings
of Eugene McGuinness” – which saw Drowned in Sound drawing comparison between the youthful McGuiness and everyone
from Morrissey to Alex Turner,
However, the basis of this critical acclaim
seems to grow more baffling with every listen as, what has been described as “his remarkably whimsical lyricism”, seems to be closer to the clichéd waffle of James Blunt then the genuinely brooding
intrigue of Morrissey. Maybe it’s just me but hearing the hackneyed groans of “This life is killing me!” on ‘Moscow Night Train’ sets alarm bells ringing. And the bells continue to ring from there on in.
For example, I’m genuinely baffled as to how I’m supposed to embrace someone
who penned the lyric “I could name you every service station on the M6 of my heart” as the future of poetic pop. There are glimpses of promise in the broody charisma of tracks like ‘Atlas’ but then he drops the diabolical “We said farewell and synchronised our watches/ Arranged for the meeting of our crotches”. (N.B.: This is actually the lyric, I’ve double checked in hope my ears were deceiving me).
The thing is, when Morrissey asks “Why pamper life’s complexity?” you actually believe in the complexity of the man himself;
when McGuinness announces “your world is round, mine is a Rubik’s cube so pass it on and go figure it out” you wonder is there actually anything beneath the surface
that needs to be figured out, and even if there is, could you be arsed?
Perhaps this is taking McGuinness as lyricist more seriously then was ever really
intended. In his more coy, whimsical moments, for example on the stand out single ‘Monster Under the Bed’, his natural
ability to manufacture a genuinely catchy tune sees the songwriter begin to approach pop-tastic. However there is still a worrying lack originality throughout
this album, considering he’s being billed as the future of indie-pop.
“Did you drop a clanger?” he warbles in ‘Moscow Night Train’. Yes you did Eugene,
yes you did.
