There's only one place this review can start, and that's with the song "JCB". A delicate, soft pop song with innocent lyrics, drawing on all the heroes and protective influences of childhood. Placid guitars, a relaxed voice and with an air of sitting under the one grey cloud on a sunny day, knowing you can get up, walk ten yards and sit down again, in the shade and out of the rain. It's a song of comfort that never quite reveals itself as either being positive or negative. A trait that carries through the rest of the album. It's hard to really put a finger on anything about this song at all; it's just one of those unlikely songs that touches on song writing excellence, without giving any clues as to why.
The rest of Half These Songs are About You toys with a mess of influences from bass heavy easy listening jazz to funk, via ska, soul, bluegrass and even an occasional hip hop rhythm or two. Childlike lyrics, but never in a bad way, mix up love songs with a gentle, effortless humor of longing and hope. The entire album is characterized by heavy bass lines and relaxed vocals. Half of which follow the "JCB" archetype, the other half of which are more upbeat numbers, complete with horns, "do do do" backing vocals and dancehall rhythms.
"Girls" carries the mantle of the gentle side, mixing tender acoustic with a slight of background string. Running straight into the more upbeat "Call It Up", it proves that it can carry the gentle leaps between influences, timbres and tempos. "Love Rage On" introduces a different air entirely, assimilating swing horns into a variety of beats and bass lines, and flows easily into the piano driven "Freedom". "Wash Away" begins with a flamenco guitar introduction, before becoming a gentle, unrequited love song.
It's not even so much about the pure variety of sounds on Half These Songs are About You but how effortlessly they are whipped together and how seamlessly one influence flows into another. It never really over-stretches itself, although one is left with the feeling of wondering how it ever could, such is the perfection of juxtaposition. Even going so far as to melt a traditional Celtic feel amongst pop moods on "Sing Around It", before diving into the purely acoustic closer, "Worry".
A chill out album at heart, Half These Songs are About You is the sort of collection that is always going to work on low volumes, with some candles, a nice bottle of wine and some good food. Hints of intelligent pop blend with an impalpable personality, folk ambience and the sensibilities of every one of the enormous influences that has found its way into the mix. Justice demands a bigger audience, but with "JCB" set to become the alternative number one, an impending appearance on Top of the Pops and with their video animation finding its way onto MTV2, maybe the wait isn't all too distant.
