James Crosbie Hancox - Edge Junkie

Hear The Track Here

My first experience of this Liverpool based musician was with Home and Dry (August 2009) and I came away suitably impressed but certainly not bowled over. Still, can't do that every time and what Home and Dry did show me is that here is a musician and/or songwriter who takes pains to make his work sound as good as possible. That definitely worked with the track but unfortunately the mix was a little too tame for my liking. Moreover, I felt that it didn't do the song any favours because of that.

But that was then....

'Deep down everyone is an edge junkie' James states in the song comments. Can't say I agree with him, I have a yellow streak the size of the Milky Way and I need 24/7 pampering and peeling of grapes. Still, each to their own eh? The song, as it happens, spends a fair amount of time in wtf land, but with a real neat rock twist that actually works a lot better than your initial impression would give it credit for. Which means you would have to download it to really give it the workout it really does deserve.

Despite being a relentless play on one chord, Edge Junkie is quite surprising in its inventiveness, especially those little dabs of percussion that dot the piece. OK, hand on heart, I'm not going to take it out for dinner but Edge Junkie proved a good listen. There is the slightest tinge of prog-rock mixed up in there too (I swear to God!) and - I admit - that jarred with me but that is a personal tic and nothing to do with the track or this musicians treatment of it. I liked its cleverness and its obvious ease with itself, you will have to make your own mind up.

Highly Recommended (different) Alternative