Those familiar enough with the Leeds music scene to know who The Smokestacks were will no doubt be pleased to hear that former singer/guitarist William Gray has released his first self-produced solo mini-album in the wake of their split.
Straight away, None Of The Above is accessible and sounds very confident. This confidence is not misguided either; rather than sounding like someone struggling to find their creative feet without former band mates, Gray comfortably experiments with a few different styles (notably folk, indie and pop along with a few quirkier sounds) throughout NOTA without ever sounding unsure about what each track’s agenda is.
Opener ‘Stop The Rot’ is readily comparable to the likes of Bon Iver and gives the listener a taste of Gray’s musings stripped all the way down to just an acoustic guitar and his almost Damon Albarn-esque voice. ‘Music To Her Ears’ is arguably the first obvious single from the album, perhaps to be released on local radio. Like a few of the album’s eight tracks ‘Music….’ features family members helping out with backing instruments and vocal harmonies, which only highlights the fact that NOTA is a proudly self-produced and personal piece of work. ‘Freaky Dreams’ sees the folk-tinged song writing put to rest for a few minutes and trades itself in for Gray’s sense of humour amongst its lyrics as well as the introduction of a sitar and drum loops, which makes for another stand-out song possibly influenced by the likes of Jack Penate’s second album. ‘Like Orange Juice on a Newly Pierced Tongue’ is a warmly melodic and solid track but doesn’t have the grower status of the sensitive ‘Gambling Man’, which does an excellent job of maintaining the balance between tunefulness and melancholy to keep you going back to it again and again.
NOTA is more of an appetizer than a main course. This is by no means a negative aspect of NOTA and it’s well worth a listen for any fan of solo singer/songwriters. Even more so when you consider that Gray is determined to get himself heard by a wider audience and can be comfortably versatile without sounding like he’s trying too hard. None Of The Above is a very solid debut and its experimental nature is welcoming rather than being tailored to fans of something more obscure. It paves the way for Gray to pursue a number of different styles for his next release. Hopefully through some local radio play, a few gigs and a bit of social networking online NOTA will get the attention it deserves and lead to bigger things for William Gray. Watch this space.
Stereoboard Rating - 4/5.
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