Tommy Evans - 'New Year's Revolutions' (YNR Productions)
3/5
By: Thomas Hannan
Ambition certainly grabs people's attention, but it brings with it some potentially rather damaging snags. Set out entirely what you want to do at the outset and achieving anything less will always look like failure.
It's a pitfall that stares 'New Year's Revolutions' in the face all record through, and whilst if we treated it solely as a throwaway piece of music it wouldn't be half the problem, but like we hinted, Tommy Evans is a man rife with aspiration. His is the view that music not only can change the world, but it's this particular LP that should make all the difference - it's political to the point of reading like a 'Manifesto' (that being the opening track), and as such can only be treated accordingly. Stringent, admittedly - but it really is asking for it.
The problem with 'New Year's Revolutions' is that if the lyrical content is to be taken seriously, Evans truly does want to be a revolutionary, but hasn't found a way yet. The revolution here is more of a rant, and whilst the things under attack surely do need such virulent criticism, what would be better would be a solution. Now, we wouldn't ask this of any other record, but like we said, Evans has set himself some high goals.
There's a tendency towards snappy rhetoric rather than deeply thought out, political content, but what's most puzzling is that the brightest moments are his least controversial anyway. 'Good Vibe', for example, is simply a proper, no messing party tune; Neneh Cherry popping up on 'Remain Forever' couldn't fail to be the smoothest of treats; and 'Move...Now!' (the one you'll recognise) truly startles - an incredible example of the kind of genre-bending, multi-culture sampling arse-wiggler that so much here aims towards but manages to fall just short of. The difference though is these highs are not preoccupied with any kind of policy - rather they state their intent with the vitality of the sound, a lesson that some of the more slight moments contained herein could do well to pay attention to.
If it wasn't that these were the record's finest moments, it could be argued that they disrupt the flow of musing upon the true cause, the blend of left wing politics and flirtations with non-conformity that litter the rest of the record (the closing 'Truth See' could well be adopted as the next Democrat Party election anthem). But Evans's way of talking of such things is a refreshing one, a style defined by its honesty and lack of problems with the objectivity of its own values. In parts, it is truly thought-provoking, but, in others, so much prevalence is given to the ideas being chatted about that Evans seems to try to come across as the first person to ever ponder such questions, which to be blunt, he certainly isn't. Take 'The Mysteries' for example - 'As the universe expands I contemplate whether it was God or the big bang that made man,' he says, as if he's the first to ever deliberate on the topic.
However, this is obviously a welcome change from the self-publicity that litters most of the rap scene, and Evans has a unique London drawl that accentuates each and every line wonderfully, even if musically the list of influences isn't quite as eclectic as he'd like to think it is on 'Lovemusic' ('classic jazz funk hip hop and soul garage techno folk rock and roll...'). Something quite elusive keeps the record entirely, enjoyably listenable, even if the aims set out were always too grandiose to ever be fulfilled by one LP. It manages to eloquently criticise but not inflame change, and in part to be political, but more successfully, a party.
Artists in this article: Tommy Evans
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment