Lonely Boy
"Lonely Boy... and Other
Tragedies" CDR
Series
Two Records /
Filthy Little Angels
Genre: lo-fi, indie pop, twee
Sweden & Norway
Jan 7, 2009 |
To begin, we'll sort out some of the paperwork. Lonely Boy is
comprised of two folks. Originally from England, Antony Harding lives
in Sweden and handles the musical components of this affair
- he
writes and performs the songs all on his own. Meanwhile, Norwegian
Eyvind
Kirkeby takes care of the lyrics and is also responsible for the artwork
that supplements the release (don't get too
excited: they're stick figures). To complicate things further,
Lonely Boy was
originally released in the UK by the Filthy Little Angels label,
but my copy comes courtesy of fledgling American
imprint Series Two,
which is rapidly amassing a prolific discography. The result of all this collaborative tomfoolery is a set of eight
acoustic pop songs. Quaint and simple, they feature sweet melodies
executed by Harding's cute vocals. Like most indie pop micro-releases,
Lonely Boy has its foundation in basic melodies and a respect for
brevity. This entails either snippy little twee ditties ("Girls and
Love," "Lonely Boy") or sadder slow songs ("Between the Lines," "World's Resume").
"Seaside Sorrow" is probably the most polished
song, with charming hooks that exude shades of Rufus Wainwright and
Eels.
Although it may not be anything spectacular, this is an EP's worth
of solidly-written melodic indie pop. I can see many people finding
this music pleasant, and even humming along
if given enough exposure.
However, only dedicated twee enthusiasts will really connect
with Lonely Boy.
lonely boy's myspace
72%
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 8 tracks, distributed by
the
label,
released June 24, 2008] |
