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He’s prowled the underground, surreptitiously looking over couples’ shoulders and tapping out iPhone notes on contemporary romance and city kid malaise. These topics he subsequently brings to life in his new incarnation as patchwork pop storyteller.
And certainly McGuinness pulls it off for about half of The Invitation to the Voyage. He majestically straddles off-kilter arrangements and sing-able choruses on Lion, reeling off brilliantly deranged lines about “stitching up freaks in my secret laboratory” and “skeletons dancing up on xylophones” at a helter-skelter pace over handclaps, woozy rockabilly riffs and attacking basslines.
Shotgun, too, is a winningly dark and infectious ode to a relationship that leaves him “black and blue, battered and bruised”. “But I care not,” he ventures, with a glint in his eye. Concrete Moon shows the songwriter at his peak lyrically, with its couplets about “lotharios and clowns” and “passageways of electric arcades”, which all build to a thrillingly cacophonous operatic finale.
Thunderbolt and Japanese Cars show this record’s breadth stylistically, featuring pizzicato violins, flurries of horns, growling guitars, 80s art-pop leanings and sparkling electronics. Occasionally, however, McGuinness’ new bombastic approach to music-making teeters into bland and forgettable territories, making the better moments of this set sound positively out-there in comparison.
“We will rush and crush on the underground,” he rhymes lazily over the swaggering beat of Sugarplum (eww) with its (unintentional?) Sugababes skit: “round round, baby, round round”. Videogame is (again, probably unintentionally) reminiscent of Robbie Williams; and the bromantic lyrics of Joshua are just painful.
With a concept as potent and full of potential as McGuinness’ attempt to provide a fantastical take on the “frustration, restlessness and isolation that 21st century urban living can often bring,” more bite and imagination was expected here. There are flashes of it for sure, but not quite enough.
--Jon Lusk
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Customer Reviews
to have managed to deliver an album which ticks a whole lot of boxes in
terms of content too. He has pillaged and plundered the last four decades
of popular songwriting with wildly inventive abandon to bring in the ten
tracks on 'The Invitation To The Voyage' to land with a grand flourish.
There are some creditable songs here. Mr McGuinness has a way of pinning
down a good tune and running with it convincingly and with considerable
panache. True, he doesn't possess the greatest voice on the planet but
in a rough and ready way it undeniably has a certain louche charm. The
lyrics are packed in tight ('Thunderbolt', in particular, virtually bursts
at the seams with droll rhyming couplets!) and shows evidence of the
acquisition of an English GCSE at the very least. The compositions are
tightly structured and well arranged - the judicious inclusion of brass
and string embellishments is especially enjoyable (the eighties' influenced
opening track 'Harlequinade', with its nods and winks to Mr Gabriel's
'Sledgehammer' is packed to the rafters with bright ideas) and the vocal
harmonies are deftly realised. He's a clever boy, no doubt sbout it.
I found myself thinking about Rufus Wainwright on more than one occasion
during my encounter with the album (shades of 'Oh What A World' on 'Concrete
Moon' for example) but Mr McGuinness is more than enough his own man to
weather comparisons and stake a claim for his own spotlit corner of the
listening world. With songs as good as 'Lion' (a rip-roaring highlight) and
'Videogame' under his belt he deserves both applause and congratulations.
This is sassy, invigorating and intelligent pop of the highest calibre.
Highly Recommended.
First heard him and Harlequinade on BBC 6 Music, and thought, Who's this? Discovered he's of this century, i.e not 80s, 90s. Don't let this give a false impression of his style, it fuses a hotpot of genres, and does it with panache and a naughty swagger. He's a pen for unique lyrics that's quasi modern poetry and a mellifluous voice to compliment.
So pleased he's concentrated on his own music having left the Miles Kane band, because he has the gift of music. The best sort of cheekiness, whimsicality and silliness you'll ever encounter in aural form, sometimes you just want to remand him to sit straight, pull himself together, and be serious like a good child. But that's his exuberant charm, he has a je ne sais quoi about his music.
Can't fault it, not one track, it's simply serotonin-inducing music. Praise the gods, there's nothing depressive, suicidal, somniferous or saccharine about his tunes. Recommended, Sugarplum, Joshua and Japanese Cars. Were he a troubadour, he'd be the star of my banquet.
Guess I'd better catch him live whilst he's hot!
After an initial run through of this album, I played it again and my heart began to sink in the same way - I was fast losing interest.
There's no doubt the tracks (a few of which I'd heard on 6 Music) are catchy and accessible but when listening to them together with a few fillers, it just doesn't work. For me, the quirky hooks and vocals just became irritating and dull.
If there's an opposite to a "grower" in my collection, unfortunately this may be it. Bit gutted as I expected something better :(
Luckily, received the Alt-J album in the same delivery. Every cloud....!
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