I was having one of those odd evenings. Nothing bad had happened as such, but I'd had too much to drink and was lost in Shoreditch, waiting for a bus that was never going to turn up, surrounded by 'Nathan Barleys', and I found myself questioning humanity. Again.
I'd just been to review yet another angular-haircut-London-based indie band, I'd been told off by the snooty door attendant ("Daaarling, there's no such thing as a 'free' guest list, Snarf."), and the band were, quite predictably, naff. I was depressed. So what in the Blue Smeg has this got to do with JIM NOIR'S Tower of Love L.P, I hear you ask?
Well, go back to the bus stop, where I was philosophising about the creation of mankind, questioning the point of pop music, and debating where my next meal was going to come from, etc. In the recesses of my mind a little tune began to gently pipe its way through to my beer-addled consciousness, and before I was aware of what was happening, I was coaxed out of my self-indulgent reverie and damn it, I was cheered right up.
The answer was there all along, contained in this silly, lovely, gentle, tambourine-hippy album: "I want to be in the key of C, it's easier to play it."
"Yes, Yes, YES! I DO want to be in the key of C!!!!" I cried, in front of the surprised, and frightened, onlookers.
All of a sudden I could hear birds singing, Bambi and his mother appeared skipping and frolicking in the road, everything started to sparkle, the stars twinkled and danced in the night sky. I felt an urge to hug the grumpy bus driver; a filthy tramp danced the waltz with a wealthy socialite; Pans People were grooving on the pavement and the evening became fun again.
|
"Tower of Love" is a delightfully daft psychedelic eighteen-way-harmony-driven fuzzy collection of ditties, with spinkles of Super Furry Animals, Simon and Garfunkle, The Beach Boys, The Beta Band, and a healthy dose of Noir's own zippy magic.
It's the perfect antidote to the shoe-gazing misery that we're all currently being force-fed right now. Anyone who can deliver the following: "If you don't give me my football back, I'm gonna get my dad on you." (Eanie Meany) with as much jingly grooviness as Jim Noir, then they deserve an OBE for services to pop music. Oh please let him be the 'Next Big Thing' - believe me we could all do with a bit of 60's-inspired cartoon madness in our lives.
Jim Noir, I thank you. You have made this girl very happy indeed.
|
