Do try this at home is my five word review of this album.
I love that today you can make an album in your house and it should blend in
with something you'd find in the shops. In reality this rarely happens, perhaps
intimidated by the technology or by taking it for granted, many home recordings
(electronic recordings aside) still sound like demos for the real album. Most
of The Melancholy Death of the Chemistry Experiment (a nod to Tim Burton's, excellent
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy) has been recorded at home and in a way it
points to what can be achieved with care, imagination and patience (this album
has taken years to make).
It's a mixture of what we've come to expect from the Chemistry experiment and
some surprises. At the heart of the band is Steven Kirk's voice which if you're
looking for off the peg comparisons, Jarvis Cocker and the Tindersticks' Stuart
Staples fall in your lap but neither are that helpful as Steven's voice isn't
confined by Cocker's theatricality and isn't the transparently fake ‘character'
that Staples portrays that makes the Tindersticks such hard work. Lyrically the
songs are a mixture of the profound, ‘hate's a strong word but not as strong
as love' and the day to day, I've started watching telly again' which give the
songs gravity but keeping them grounded.
Surrounding this is a strong, working band that drive the songs and provide colour
with keyboard and flute parts that give the band it's distinctive sound. This
live sound is reflected with some of the songs, opener Starlite Ballroom and
Good Morning with it's half-spoken phrasing are what I'd expect to find on this
album, but ‘You're the prettiest thing' with it's disco beat and sixties Europop
feel, the found-sound crowd scene introduction on' 2:30am: Killing Puffins' and
the stand out track at the end of the album ‘I wish I could Cry' with it's orchestral
arrangement show that The Chemistry Experiment haven't just been documenting
their live set. The song styles are eclectic but there's still the feel of an
album rather than just a collection of disparate songs.
Similarly the band haven't limited themselves to their live palette sound-wise.
Carefully chosen but varied keyboard sounds and samples texture the songs without
drawing too much attention to themselves and while guest musicians provide trumpet,
vibraphone and violin.
I've walked around with this album on my walkman for about a week which is a
long time in walkmanland. The songs are moving in different ways and it feels
like music that has been created to be cool to listen to rather than just cool
to play. 5 Stars
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