Windmill - Puddle City Racing Lights (Melodic Records)
3/5
By: Chris O'Toole
Newport Pagnell is a cult town. It is official. The claims the town makes to fame continue to grow. It was the home of the original Aston Martin car factory and it has the oldest working Iron Bridge in the world. Furthermore, in the song 'Is it Really so Strange?' by the Smiths, Morrissey laments that he "lost his bag in Newport Pagnell". It was also the first place to open a motorway service station. Newport Pagnell is a charming little town indeed and now boasts a new standard-bearer in the world of popular music, Windmill.
The recording vehicle for Matthew Thomas Dillon, Windmill produce affected and often eccentric pop music. The sound is based around the core piano playing of Dillon, more Elton John than Matt Bellamy, and the group conjure sepia tinted images of love and loss around this in a deceptively simple style. 'Puddle City Racing Lights' filters in a wide emotional range into this paradigm, displaying sadness and loss in one line, with redemption and hope in the next. Similarly the productions on the album mirror this fluidity, running wild and building grand, almost operatic soundscapes when necessary and meekly supporting the most humble of piano refrains at other times. It is quixotic mix; bubbling tranquilly but frequently exploding over the course of the album.
The centre of this show, however, is Dillon's quavering vocal contribution. Now, given that the vocalist was born in Newport Pagnell it is surprising to hear him sporting an American accent on the album. Indeed, his whole style appears to be one of twisted Americana; and after a while it falls a little flat. Initially the voice is intriguing, even charming and enticing, drawing the listener closer, before inspection reveals it to be faux and occasionally shrill. This negative characteristic is enhanced further by the often mundane lyrics, which examine every day emotions, objects and events, but fail to imbue them with any mysticism or romance. This leaves them as simple everyday emotions, objects and events. Take 'Plastic Pre-Flight Seats'; with its cumbersome lyrics and trite subject matter it would take a master crafts man to build a palace from the materials available, and whilst Dillon attempts, he falls someway short of the mark. Think Neutral Milk Hotel with little of none of their charming whimsy; over earnest and over produced. At other times, however, Dillon saves the show. His graceful piano melodies on 'The Planning Stopped' and 'Tokyo Moon', whilst not breathtaking, do provide a seasoned base for sprawling orchestral arrangements with some success. Liberal use of strings, echo and ensure the right atmosphere is created before more often than not rousing choruses begin, lifting each of the tracks presented on Puddle City Racing Light to magnificent, albeit brief, heights.
The sound throughout is urgent and immediate, even desperate. However once Windmill have won your attention, there is little reward. Songs are cluttered without effect, building to crescendo after crescendo with little emotional impact. Take for example 'Asthmatic'; the track rages little a roaring river, filled with violin, piano, hurrying onwards with an urgent message, but it is somehow hollow and once finished is quickly forgotten. There is no resonance to the recordings presented here, ebbing past in all their pomp and glory but not retaining attention long enough to be truly beautiful.
In short though, 'Puddle City Racing Lights' is over-earnest and a little one dimensional. Whilst each track is intricate and filled with intimate detail, they are difficult to differentiate and offer only glimpses of their subject matter. The album is challenging to engage with on more than a superficial and semi-comical level, not a promising sign for such an overtly pop product. The one saving grace is Dillon's voice, but even this attribute needs more range and variety, as well as investment in some more challenging subject matter.
Stream four tracks from 'Puddle City Racing Lights' HERE.
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