Aussie-based singer delivers big-hearted collection
CD REVIEW BY JON WRIGHT
HAND on my musical heart, this is truly one of the best albums of 2012... and it's only January.
It won't be hitting our shores until February 10, but believe me it will be worth waiting for.
The Belgium-born artist Gotye, though now a resident Down Under, has won numerous accolades on that side of the world, with his previous album 'Like Drawing Blood'.
But where the songs on that album were five to seven minutes long and, to be honest, seemed to meander off from the true equation of pop, on this new album he has really kept the songs sonically voracious throughout.
He recorded the album in his parents' barn by himself, utilising a lot of old instruments he picked up in second-hand shops.
It really does have that great authentic musical feel about it. You've know doubt heard the single which, fortunately, is getting a good bit of airplay on the Irish radio waves, 'Somebody That I Used to Know' (featuring the beautiful female vocals of talented singer Kimbra) which really has to be one of the best breakup songs I've ever heard.
Instead of the usual soppy sickly 'pass the box of tissues job', here he realistically captures and musically exudes the bitterness and anger that is felt between the two parties involved.
The song 'Eyes Wide Open' opens with drum beats reminiscent of Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill' but then leads you off into his own musical story.
I love the track 'Easy Way Out' with its mystical raw rockiness, a track that our own Snow Patrol would have loved to written.
Then there's the brilliant dubby track 'State Of The Art' full of eerie spookiness, sci-fi and pitch-shifted vocals.
Then to completely throw you off there's the up-tempo Motown (yes Motown!) revisited 'I Feel Better'.
After listening to the album a few times one does get the inkling, this chap could be today's Peter Gabriel, there's just that feel to his work.
Things slow down with the gentle pillow-side R&B 'Giving Me a Chance'.
The album finishes with the sad but beautifully haunting 'Bronte' which gave this reviewer a lump in his throat with such lines in it as "it hurts to let go".
Just to let you know, if you have the wisdom to invest into this album, you will be drawn in by the details, transported to a world where every moment matters. This really is pop (though that word is abused so much) at its most precise, electronic music at its most emotional.
The album nicely delves into dub, Detroit-era Motown soul, stadium-size politop, synth-folk and world music on the 12 glorious, sprawling, hugehearted songs.
A classic in the making!
