Thursday, October 19, 2023

Spotlight

David Kilgour and The Heavy Eights - Bobbie's a Girl (2019) ****

Nominated by: K Simms

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition:  Ngapara

A bit of a conundrum this one. I have probably listened to this more than any other Wander To Wozza Music Club album and every time I had a different reaction.

Sometimes I loved it, sometimes it frustrated me, sometimes it annoyed me, sometimes it brightened my mood, sometimes I found it gloomy. I tried it quiet in the background like Kevy suggested and that didn't help. I tried it loud and that didn't really help either.

A dilly of a pickle.

In the end I'd have to say I liked it a lot, but it felt like it was kind of unfinished as an album and that's part of its charm. A bit like Paul McCartney's first solo album. It has snippets of interesting tunes, fully realized songs with vocals, and what sound like jam sessions left to marinate.

It's quite the schizophrenic brew.

The other thing is that its style is hard to pin down. It isn't ambient (although at times it tries to be), it isn't alt pop (although...), it isn't acoustic, it isn't rock guitar.

I found that defining it by what it isn't was a source of frustration rather than a strength.

Then I'd play it again and it would all make sense and be coherent. Weird.

I like the experimentation and variety but I'd also have liked it if he'd settled on it being an instrumental album in an ambient vein.

I recently bought a copy of Courtney Barnett's End Of The Day, an ambient, guitar fired, album. It's great and I listen to it a lot too. It feels like Dave Kilgour has a similar album inside him and this is a tentative stab at something in that direction.

Although I won't be buying a copy, it's a fascinating album Kev. So glad I heard it. Thanks for recommending it. I never would have heard it otherwise.

No comments:

Post a Comment