For anyone who doesn’t know by now, Har Mar Superstar is a 26 year old, real-life cartoon quite prepared to strip down to his pants, hang out with any supermodels who won't repel him and fill the airwaves with celebratory, lewd white R&B sounds.
Har Mar is set to release his new album 'The Handler',recorded in the legendary Sunset Strip apartment inhabited by 'Dirt'-era Motley Crue, where he "tried to summon up the lost spirit of my scuzzy neighbourhood by making the most rock'n'roll R&B album ever." Ri-ight.
The record features appearances from Yeah Yeah Yeahs stars Karen O and Nick Zinner, Northern State and Holly Valance and is the not so long-awaited follow-up to 'You Can Feel Me'.
"Transit" and “Body Request” get the party started, echoing vibes of Stevie Wonder and more recent funkmeisters like Jamiroquai. The most refreshing song on the album is first single ‘DUI’: it hits you like a disco ball shining straight into your eyes, dragging a noticable Jackson 5 influence in its' wake. It's Har Mar proudly parading his new 70’s shiny musical bell-bottoms. D! Is the dial your fingers dance. U! Under the spell of romance, I! Is the dangerous influence, I feel it! As we’re transported back to the days when Motown was the preferred choice.
On “Cut Me Up” with Karen O, Har Mar delivers on the rhetoric and carries through with majestic form in the sultry vocal sparring match. Sadly, though, halfway though the album loses sight and plays it safe on “Sugar Pie”, although it rallies again and you can’t resist singing along to “Isn't She Lovely” as it sounds so similar to Stevie, right down to the harmonica blast.
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It's a brief respite though, and tracks such as “O”, "Back The Camel Up" , "As (Seasons)) Fade" are forced and the hooks don’t fulfill. “Save The Strip” is worse again, coming on all treacly like a sickly big brovaz song. Yuck.
Har Mar again gets a second wind, though. The pint-size Minnesota man calls on rappers Northern State to give him a run for his money on “Bird in the Hand”, along with “Back In The Day” and an unlikely reworking of Gilbert O'Sullivan's classic "Naturally". Bizarrely, a great way to sign off.
"The Handler" perhaps takes too many chances to work as a whole, but to be fair to Har Mar we need more variety and indie-inluenced r&b to dance and screw around with, so fair play to him for trying to provide us with such a varied soundtrack for our nocturnal exploits, even if some of the experiments over-indulge and end up throwing up in an alley round the back.
Har Mar Superstar is in town showing off his sexual prowess and making all the ladies weak at the knee during the September and October as he heads out on the "NME Freshers Weeks Tour." Share his taxi home if you dare.
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