Gato Martin trade in the kind of prog-jazz-latin-rock that hit its peak of flared-haired popularity way back in the mists of time with the likes of Santana. Formed around singer/guitarist/song-writer Toni “Gato” Martin, - who enjoys being a member of the exclusive musicians’ jet set, dividing his time between London and home town Palma de Mallorca - the self produced CD ‘Instincts’ contains songs in English and Spanish.
Toni is pressing the right buttons in that he understands the oeuvre in which he is operating. There are plenty of melodic rock chord changes and variations in tempo coupled with a fair smattering of stoner guitar solos and instrumental segments. His efforts though are impaired by a resolutely flat production that fails to give his songs any spark, denying them the tightness and tonal dynamics that his choice of musical style demands.
Things start promisingly with the rolling drumbeat that accompanies a cascading melody line for ‘Your Light’, one of four songs that Toni sings in English. However, straight away we’re presented with another significant problem. Toni suffers with a sticking point that inflicts many of our overseas cousins who attempt to sing “Rock” in English but retain the inflections of their native tongue. You can call me a patronising snob but it just doesn’t work. When singing in English Toni’s voice is over-wrought and strangulated. It’s like he’s overcompensating for the lack of nuance he can bring to English phrasing by over-emoting on nearly every word.
Too often he sounds like a jilted Latin lover when he should be rocking like a b**tardos.
I’m wondering whether Toni himself is in two minds on this English v. Spanish issue. Track 2 ‘Renueva’ is sung in Spanish while track 6 ‘Renew’ is the English version of the same song. Musically the track works well with an opening bossa nova beat that builds to a more standard rock beat and includes a particularly effective key change and outro. Unsurprisingly, it’s the Spanish take that works best.
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‘What’s The Point’ opens with a Zeppelin-esque guitar fade-in and once again contains some great rock chord sequences. But it’s too loose and needs to be trimmed to a fighting weight if it’s to have any chance in the ring. The song ‘There’ is poor, very poor. Toni tries for a rock ballad in English and this time out he’s also crocked by an out-of-tune harmonica; it’s a bit like chewing tinfoil.
‘Loco Por Amor’ is bright and breezy with strum-along acoustic guitar and is helped by Toni delivering his native Spanish without any vocal posturing. He’s hit upon a winner here and should look to develop this lighter touch in future compositions.
Final listed track ‘Dime Baby’ opens with an unwelcome clichéd guitar riff, reminding me that The Darkness continue to exist and are selling records by the truckload. Thanks for that Toni. The song is repetitive and needs some drastic pruning, or better still a complete re-working. There is – ah-ha! - a hidden track but it’s another plodding mid-tempo rock ballad and too much like some Zucchero cast-off for my sensitive Anglo-Irish ears.
In summary: stick to the Spanish, lighten up and tighten up.
www.gatomartin.com
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