Wild Nothing - Life of Pause
8/10
Oh goodie, I love a game of “spot the ‘80’s influence”. At times, this is so eighties it hurts. In lesser hands, this could be a desperate rehash. Wild Nothing’s Jack Tatum dodges that by writing some damned fine songs. Opening track Reichpop begins like an outtake from Talk Talk’s pastoral masterpiece The Spirit of Eden but quickly veers into New Romantic territory. Like second track Lady Blue – hell, make that pretty much everything here – it contains big hits of prime Duran, Spandau and Ultravox. Much of what follow is on similar lines, being heavy on bass, keys and rich backing vocals. The exceptions are A Woman’s Wisdom, Japanese Alice and To Know You. The former sounds like The Waterboys’ Mike Scott fronting (ex-Waterboy Karl Wallinger’s) World Party on Goodbye Jumbo. Actually, the vocals recall Mike Scott throughout. Japanese Alice has an opening that could’ve been lifted from Hanoi Rocks’ Mental Beat before veering into Smiths territory. The latter leaps into the 21st century, sounding like Secret Machines circa Ten Silver Drops. Far from original, this isn’t classic but Jack Tatum is clearly a talent well worth watching out for and this’ll be sneaking on my playlist more often than I might expect.
8/10
