Hear The Track Here
My first (and only) encounter with Australian Electronica musician Unread Pages was a bit of a welcome surprise. Ghost Faces (September 2008) was nothing like I expected given the electronica tag and turned out to be an excellent introduction to this new (to me anyway) musician. A slightly jazzy track that slams along with a great sense of purpose, its main feature being the vocals, but go have a listen to it, it's worth the effort. Must admit to being a bit intruiged when I saw this was a Pop Rock track, again not something I was expecting from this musician - and God knows why that should be...In my review of Ghost Faces I finished by saying that Unread Pages showed 'a rare intelligence' in his musical work and if that didn't convince me then I Dare Not Abandon certainly does. Musically it draws its musical muse from practically everywhere while still being easily graspable, in a kinda/sorta pop way. Certainly it has a lot more going for it musically than a lot of pop, and that may not be to everyone's taste but I certainly found it to mine. Can't say I was over enamoured by the overall sound though but that may just be me being picky.
In the early 1980's I had some experiences with a band called The Associates who I absolutely loved, mainly because of singer Billy McKenzie's awe inspiring vocal abilities. The instant reference for me in this track is of that band, both musically and lyrically and, btw, it's a major compliment. It's a bit rough, sometimes the vocal gets a bit buried but you can certainly see just how different Unread Pages is when it comes to that all elusive 'pop' track. There's something weird happening in the arrangement too, around three minutes in, but considering the overall tenor of the track this could well be intentional. It's also tempting to say Unread Pages kinda sounds like David Pendragon too..mmmm.....naaah, couldn't be....
Excellent electronica flavoured highbrow pop. Recommended.
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