Albums

Lewis Denby - Lookout Posts and Telescopes EP

Liam McGrady 30/07/2006

Rating: 2/5

Listen to any record for long enough and you'll begin to find some parts of it you enjoy, be it The Sugababes or Stravinsky. You'd be a fairly negative person if this wasn't the case. So I've listened to 'Lookout Posts and Telescopes' an EP from Yorkshire based Lewis Denby a reasonable amount of times over the past few days and have come to be quite fond of parts of it. Yes, Lewis Denby is another singer/songwriter, clutching an acoustic guitar to his chest, ruminating on life, love and loss; and eschewing most other musical instruments, but you know, he's no worse than the rest of 'em.

The above, I realise, is hardly glowing praise, so here's some nice things about this EP. 'Autopilot', while using slightly forced and odd imagery to convey his feelings of uncertainty (“Fear of flying is a curable thing, but what's to do when my flight is a flight with no wings?/I thought I knew just how land with no wheels”), shows that Denby at least puts some effort into his lyrics, and 'Fairy Stories' has a lovely descending chord sequence reminding of Radiohead's 'Nice Dream'.

But now however, this is the not so nice thing about this EP. I always feel a bit bad criticising something that's obviously so lovingly put together, by someone so obviously more talented than myself, but sadly most of the songs here, musically, sound like the sort of acoustic ballads the “best songwriter” in Fame Academy knocks up over a lunch break.

The main problem with 'Lookout Posts and Telescopes' is that not many people are actually going to give it enough listens to grow “quite fond” of it, when the songs lack any immediate hooks or melodies.

'Lookout Posts and Telescopes' EP is out now on Groovestealer

Lewis Denby Website

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