The Beat Surrender

Ian Passey is not a solo artist. He’s more a one man band, who has made an album of keen observations, emblematic of the simple life he lives in Kidderminster. A vast array of musical influences and inspirations add to his love of Football, sweets and walking his dog Cyrille to create down to earth and funny tales of life in “these exasperating times”, soaked in cheap scotch!!

Just back from a small Glastonbury performance, the live set is stripped down to acoustic where as ‘Little Victories’ is layered up of guitars, keyboard and a clever use of samples and instruments that Passey has put together himself. His self produced debut album, ‘All Aboard’ sold out and things are starting to happen for him, with a an appearance lined up on Midlands TV.

Here, things start strongly with appropriately titled ‘Setting The Scene’. This is exactly what he does over a staccato intro in Bernard Sumner style vocals. His singing style changes with most songs, adding another dimension to them and a more jerky approach is used in ‘Better Days’ where his Jam and Fall influence comes through over a real Inspiral Carpets feel. Next we have a witty ode to moving on to bigger and ‘better’ things with the accordion sway-along of ‘It’s Nearly Time (To Ditch My Old Friends)’ and by the almost Smiths sounding ‘And The Winner Is…’, the basic DIY sound is forgotten because of its genuine charm.

Things take a bad turn later though. On ‘Singer/Songwriter’, the people in the title (and maybe ironically, himself included) are ridiculed over an averagely flat tune. If you’re going to make a statement like that, then it needs to be backed with something better than the herd he’s singing of. The album then seems to lose its way and its eclectic feel, sounding basic and similar.

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