View The Review
5 out of 10
Erstwhile Bluetones vocalist Mark Morriss is, apparently, 'getting his hands dirty' with this, the second single from his debut solo album Memory Muscle. Given that he's been singing at open-mic nights since 2004, his hands must be absolutely filthy by now. Musically a harmless, easy swing through yet another male singer/songwriter acoustic ballad with an unimaginative guitar solo and some standard David Arnold strings, Lay Low nevertheless layers its three minutes with a grim anti-pop attitude and a gritty lyrical punch. Reminiscent of his old band's more 'sensitive' moments such as A Parting Gesture, we unwrap a crisp, romantic tune possessing a dark, chewy centre, in which Morriss tackles his fate as an ex-chart topper.
It's a tricky subject for someone anxious to point out how down-to-earth he is, but thankfully it's Morriss' voice which saves things from becoming too horribly self-regarding and unintentionally hilarious. Hearing the lines 'when I could've had it all for keeps, I threw it all away' and 'I'm gonna make tracks, now the walls are closing in', I'm afraid the image of the League of Gentlemen's glam-rock spit-out Les McQueen kept leaping to mind - 'It's a shit business', indeed. Vocally, Morriss has lost little from his mid-1990s heyday - and as James Blunt and Jack Johnson stride the male singer-songwriter market like a pair of buff Transformers, its good to hear Morriss turning out introspection without sounding twee.
The song makes for quite a cynical autobiography and the irony of being an undeserved Britpop also-ran touting another 'comeback' is not lost -' I'm gonna roll with all the hits' and 'I know what you get, so it's time to disappear', for example. Such a lack of pretence remains a little affected, though, and given the main sentiment of the song - I'm gonna lay low' - Morriss may not have much choice. But let's look on the bright side - Robbie Williams will probably cover it. When he gets back from Venus.
Listen: www.myspace.com/markmorrissmusic
Tracklist:
1. Lay Low
No comments:
Post a Comment