The Antennaheadz - Nancy

Hear The Track Here

You know you are in trouble when you get to the stage where you can't wait to see what Thomas J is going to dish up next. Like fellow musical contrarians from back in the day, Fear 2 Stop, Thomas J in his Antennaheadz guise has been playing some blinders of late. Never in my wildest dreams, and I've been reviewing this artist for over four years, would I have ever believed that I would have handed him not one, but two Must Haves in a row. The cheif reason is that Thomas has branched out mightily from his experimental beginnings, although even his new material has that lunatic edge about it. Aah, but that would have to be there, wouldn't it? Being responsible for any number of alter-egos is tiring.

Where Thomas seems to have wandered into is the lo-fi, acoustic alternative end of things and he's surprisingly well fitted to it. Both must have tracks featured this sound, and of course mustn't forget the vocal tones of the man himself which is an integral part of what makes this work. The same could be said about Nancy; there is the voice, there is the guitar but there the similarities end. What brings the track down more than anything else is that it's well... Let me put it another way, the guitarplaying is desultory, the same couple of chords for around four and a half minutes. Sure they are joined by drums and bass eventually but the bulk of the track rests on the vocals.

Which would be fine if a) you had some stimulating/evocative lyrical content or b) if you had an arrangement that was a bit more complex than this extremely linear track. Don't get me wrong here, it's not that I don't like this track, I do. There again, I am a long term fan of this musician in all his guises and he knows that. However, reaching a wider audience than me or him means that the track delivered is the best possible. As it is, this is nothing like as inventive as the two tracks we've already discussed (Mr Panache and Loveless Blues) and wouldn't appeal outside of fans and admirers.

Lo-fi Alternative, in the Antennaheadz stylee. Recommended for fans.