Sarah Whatmore sings on her new single ‘Smile’ that she needs a break from the old routine. Well, Sarah so do I but I seldom bloody get it. it’s a lazy summer single that could have shifted truckloads if it had copped for that ‘Lily Allen Factor’ (you know the one, releasing a summery record when there’s some bloody sunshine and it’s not pissing down with rain every bloody day). Anyway enough of my whining, as a whole I’ve heard worse, the production is pleasant and if she stopped over egging the pudding Sarah might shape up into a half decent vocalist. There’s a couple of extremely dodgy euro mixes that someone who is five could have knocked together in Garageband which make a slightly above average song, frankly crap. If you think I’m being harsh then take a moment to remember that Sarah was a Simon Cowell cast off six years ago and think just how unpleasant I could have been as a consequence.
Out 22nd September.
Thankfully salvation comes in the shape of my receipt of Flobots album sampler, you should by now be familiar with the track ‘Handlebars’ with it’s playground melody and tales of a life unstoppable. But just in case you are thinking this lot are strictly from the land of the one trick unicorn. Well know they aren’t, I am however slightly conflicted. I cant decide whether they are like Gym Class Heroes or whether they are like Gym Class Heroes but for a slightly older audience. While I wrestle with such a weighty conundrum let me just say the other tracks on the sampler might not be as immediate as ‘Handlebars’ but they do work, ‘Fight With Tools’ coasts along nicely and picks up the pace a little when it benefits from the presence of some slightly barroom style fiddle. ‘Mayday’ gets a little more caustic on the lyrical front and takes the live multi instrumentalism a little further (more fiddles, it works…maybe it’s the future). ‘The Rhythm Method’ meanwhile has shades of blaxploitation film theme songs but just a little…whiter?
You know what I love this and I cant wait to hear more from them!
Out physically on the 29th September
