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BUSWELL - BUY ME NEW SHOES
The Barfly / Don't Go Wasting Time / More / Let Me Love / The Drugs Are Making You Love / He's Only Looking At Other Women Because He's Not Happy With Himself / 3:15 From LAX / Buy Me New Shoes / Between The Murder & Death / Sleep / You May Climb Over Me
POSITIVELY 4th STREET RECORDS
4THLPBUZZ01CD
Sounding much like a dust up between Belle & Sebastian and Kate Rusby, Buswell are a 5 piece band who deal in lushly orchestrated pop music with a hint of folk beating at its heart. With the bands debut album BUY ME NEW SHOES, Buswell deliver a collection of songs dealing in heartbroken melancholy and honesty, songs dripping with experience and tender restraint.
LET ME LOVE is a song spun in a dreamlike concoction of piano and violins - a gently brushed drum beat anchoring the tender male/female vocal interplay, dipping between low sung intricacy and bursts of climactic release. The beautiful MORE is a tear stained piano ballad with Shaun and Becky trading wistful melodies whilst opener THE BARFLY deals in sincere emotion reminiscent of Elbow or Badly Drawn Boy.
DON'T GO WASTING TIME finds the band delivering a slice of tender folk based pop that sees them building on their earlier material; Buswell expanding their sound to include militaristic drum patterns and mournful violin surges. THE DRUGS ARE MAKING YOU LOVE bears the odd similarity to The Beautiful South in its witty lyrical observations and tender male/female vocal interplay, on HE'S ONLY LOOKING AT OTHER WOMEN BECAUSE HE'S NOT HAPPY WITH HIMSELF, the Wiltshire five piece dish out another slice of downbeat folk tinged pop, a sound that whilst by now Buswell are well versed in, is a sound that could also do with a little variety and the odd surprise to really impress.
3:15 FROM LAX is another lesson in downbeatedness and restraint whilst title track BUY ME NEW SHOES hardly finds Buswell stretching themselves musically into any new territory. Closing number YOU MAY CLIMB OVER ME is a suitably sombre and beautiful climax, the band utilising militaristic drum patterns and a mournful organ sound to bring the record to a gorgeous crescendo.
BUY ME NEW SHOES is a record that has its fair share of mesmerising moments, the band delivering folk tinged pop music with an impressive grace - melancholic and haunting, yet dreamlike and optimistic. Its a record though that struggles to stay compelling and intriguing throughout, Buswell lagging at times, delivering variations on the same theme and hardly stretching themselves musically or artistically here. As purveyors of tear stained melancholy and fragile beauty, Buswell are a band capable of the sublime at times, and whilst BUY ME NEW SHOES is an album containing moments of this sublimity, it struggles to maintain it in the long run.
BIOGRAPHY
Buswell as an entity has existed for a few years now, starting mainly as a solo artist with the album Proudness, and growing into the 5-piece act you now view before you. The 3 guy/2 gal group use pianos, violins, drums, bass, guitar, voices and samples to make a heady mix of provocative, intense pieces and introspective lullabies. They draw inspiration from folk, drum’n’bass, indie rock, hip-hop, funk, classical, post-rock, surreal cinema, warm and cold memories, and anything else that can be touched and played with.
The live show takes in both dancing and crying, and can be described as an open attempt at honesty (which probably explains the schizophrenic genre-hopping of the band). They like to push themselves, and enjoy experimentation. Without it, we'd probably all still be listening to Gregorian chanting.
As well as performing live as a 5 piece, Buswell also write music for films, and have worked on a variety of shorts and independent feature films, including Kinetic Frame's Better Late and US Comedy Port Washington.
Buswell have just signed to 4th Street Music, ready to release their debut single Let Me Love and album Buy Me New Shoes.
Buswell as an entity has existed for a few years now, starting as a solo artist and growing into the 5-piece act you see today. The 3 guy/2 gal group use pianos, violins, drums, bass, guitar and voices to make a heady mix of provocative, intense pieces and introspective lullabies. They draw inspiration from folk, drum n bass, indie rock, hip-hop, funk, classical, post-rock, surreal cinema, warm and cold memories and anything else that can be touched and played with. They like to push themselves and enjoy experimentation. Without it, we'd probably all be listening to Gregorian chanting.
The band are currently working on their new album Buy Me New Shoes, as well as writing music for various films. They're also actively playing at every opportunity. That's about all for now. For more information on the band, or for their exploits with strippers, car crashes and jails in Hollywood, contact Buswell.
"I know a girl who revised for her Theology exams in Poland whilst listening to a Buswell CD - she got full marks. She also thought you were Rufus Wainwright." - Gary, owner of Positively 4th Street Records.
LINE UP
Becky>piano/vocals
Shaun>guitar/vocals
Rachael>viola/violin
Matt>bass
Jim>drums
DISCOGRAPHY
PROMO (2005>Positively 4th Street Records)
Let Me Love
Don't Lack Anything
Buy Me New Shoes (BBC Wiltshire Session)
Is This It Will Ever Get?
DON'T GO WASTING TIME (Positively 4th Street Records)
Don't Go Wasting Time
In Her Dreams
Don't Go Wasting Time (Desconocidas Remix)
BUY ME NEW SHOES (Positively 4th Street Records>2007)
The Barfly
Don't Go Wasting Time
More
Let Me Love
The Drugs Are Making You Love
He's Only Looking At Other Women Because He's Not Happy With Himself
3:15 From LAX
Buy Me New Shoes
Between The Murder & Death
Sleep
You May Climb Over Me
LINKS
Buswell>www.buswellmusic.com
FURTHER LISTENING
Belle & Sebastian
Kate Rusby
Eliza Carthy
Review date: January 2007 |
