In an unusual move, musician Alan McNeill has subtitled each of the tracks of his first album with a time of the day. McNeill also claims each of the tracks on ‘Me, But Perfect’ are influenced by the emotions his one year-old daughter experiences during this day. This sounds like a brave experiment on paper but it works surprisingly well on CD as it happens.
‘Sunrise Catalonia’ (7:14am) kicks off events with breathy wordless vocals and layers of electronic melody. So far, so Sigur Ros then. The heavy use of voice samples for ‘Obsessive Compulsive’ would sound over-busy in lesser hands but McNeill manages to extract a clear, hypnotic melody from them. ‘Tempertantrum’, on the other hand, is too busy; a generic mass of beats adding little to the promising start.
Yet once the brightness of morning fades away, events take a rather more melancholic turn. The mournful yet serene ‘Path Of Least Resistance’ is the highlight of the album for me whilst glitch-fest ‘Nichts’ and chill-out number ‘A Conversation’ continue the downbeat but winning formula. Cleary little Miss McNeill, though, is not an afternoon person.
As you could imagine for a record based on moods and the time of the day, eclecticism is very much in evidence. What is more impressive though, is the ways in whcih McNeill imposes his own (or should I say his daughter’s?) personality over the vast array of styles; creating a coherent and fascinating album.
Web Sites:
Engine7 Official Site
Engine7 MySpace
Further Listening:
Sigur Ros, Julian Fane, Nathan Fake
0 Responses to “Review: Engine7 – Me, But Perfect”