Francis Neve - I Wont Make You Better (Single Review)
Monday, 18 July 2011
Written by V O'Hagan
Multi-instrumental Essex boy Francis Neve is here with new single ‘I Won’t Make You Better’ from his seven track mini-abum ‘The Second Time We First Met’.
It’s a self-assured and confident single, kicking-off with a lively intro of hand-clap percussions and jaunty guitar which contrasts nicely with the overall downhearted feel of the piece. ‘I Won’t Make You Better’ is an introspective little song with gentle and unobtrusive vocals. Neve sings in a flat and controlled manner, giving the impression of being somewhat dumbstruck. The effect is gorgeously trance-like and hypnotic, and although the lyrics are repetitive there is enough going on behind the vocals to keep things interesting.
At one point the vocals are electronically distorted so that Neve sounds like an elegantly stuttering robot, and later on the track is softly infused with a sinister sounding synth reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s ‘Welcome To The Machine’. It is this weird mixture of sentimentality and almost-ominous musical effects that makes this track so oddly compelling. Neve’s vocals become more urgent and pressing as the song progresses, before it all ends in a hiss of percussive rattlesnakes and a sharp, jarring, final note.
‘I Won’t Make You Better’ isn’t your standard forlorn love-song. It shies away from heavy-handed sentimentality and instead feels quiet, serious, and cynical: a love-song for realists. It isn’t weighted down by misery or lifted up by giddy optimism, it floats in the middle somewhere. As a sound engineer, Neve obviously understands how to blend together different sounds to create different emotional responses, and it is this quality that makes this track so interesting.
If you like your music to hit you over the head then I’d give this one a miss. ‘I Won’t Make You Better’ is a song for reflective romantics, and perfect for some quiet-time contemplation.
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‘I Won’t Make You Better’ isn’t your standard forlorn love-song. It shies away from heavy-handed sentimentality and instead feels quiet, serious, and cynical: a love-song for realists. It isn’t weighted down by misery or lifted up by giddy optimism, it floats in the middle somewhere. As a sound engineer, Neve obviously understands how to blend together different sounds to create different emotional responses, and it is this quality that makes this track so interesting.
