Robert Gomez: Brand New Towns (CD on Bella Union)

Band: Robert Gomez
Label: Bella Union
Title: Brand New Towns

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Band:Robert Gomez
Title:Brand New Towns
Reviewed By:Sarah Maybank
Date Published:23/02/2007

Label:Bella Union
Format:CD
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Is it insensitive of the sensitive to impose their sensitivity on others? Well, if your drowsy musings had impressed dewy-skinned camera candy Norah Jones you’d probably care as much about answering that as Texas croonsmith Robert Gomez.

Gomez’s mood music for the extremely fed-up enticed the enchanting Jones to pan up to one of his 2006 shows. And it flagged him up as troubadour du jour on the circuit of troubled young men venting their pain via the medium of down-tempo songwriting.

Good for you, Rob - but don’t listen to 'Brand New Towns 'while driving, is all we’re saying. With melodies reminiscent of Badly Drawn Boy or the Flaming Lips, embellished with tasteful keyboard arpeggios, waltzy accordian flourishes and gentle Hovis ad-style trumpets, it’ll lull you into a slightly self-pitying, duvet day-esque reverie at first. Echoey, ‘recorded in the kitchen’ production, and mumbled, Gruff Rhys-ish vocals add shambling appeal.

But it lacks stick-in-the-brain tunes (even the bleakest moods need a hook to hang on. Ask Kele Olereke, Morrissey, and Thom Yorke, if you can persuade them away from gazing at their navels) and the stupefying overall effect is of an artist channelling extra-strength cold medication. By the end you’ll be drifting in and out of consciousness and wondering how the hell you could’ve been administered a borderline lethal dose of Night Nurse despite being in the house on your own.

But maybe it’s Gomez, once a member of the Ringling Brothers Circus, who is having the last laugh. He’s from Texas remember. Listen to this album while visualising crass 80s oil opera, 'Dallas'. You’ll soon be freaking out at how his Quink-toned soundscapes render its cut-throat operators, terrifying shoulder pads, and soapy over–emoting uber-demonic. Can you hear him chuckling with satisfaction back in Denton, Texas? We can. File under 'job done'.

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Well-produced, but unmemorable new CD from Texan singer-songwriter Robert Gomez , who inlcudes in his fan base Norah Jones

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Brand New Towns - CD
Well-produced, but unmemorable new CD from Texan singer-songwriter Robert Gomez , who inlcudes in his fan base Norah Jones

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