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Just when you thought the epidemic of affable cheeky chappy singer-songwriters had all but died out (or at least culled in advance of an X Factor Christmas special) along comes Eugene McGuinness with his claim to the well trodden boards of balladry. But fear not, McGuinness is unlikely to follow in the footsteps of his forebears and peddle his eponymous debut on Saturday primetime TV; his sonic palette too imaginative to sate the pre-packaged needs of a celebrity hungry spoon-fed audience.
First and foremost McGuinness is a wordsmith with a vivacious appetite for storytelling and a dexterous vocal that savours each and every hand painted lyric. While the descriptive phrases balladeer, wordsmith and storyteller can point disapproving fingers towards aspiring crooners who delight in raiding their granddads wardrobe, McGuinness’ direct approach is intensely original yet reassuringly familiar. Taking shape as a monologist pub-stool doohickey, ‘Rings Around Rosa’, ‘Fonz’, ‘Nightshift’, ‘Not So Academic’ and ‘Disneyfield’ go a long way in exposing intuitive prosaic idiosyncrasies and illustrate an articulate flair for vintage modernity. And with a mouthful of lyrics gasping for air the only thing stopping McGuinness from loosing his way in a self-styled maze of observational poetry is an intricate knowledge of back alleys, shortcuts and inventive hiding places.
Delicately punctuated with splashes of nonconformist romanticism, the enchanting ‘Wendy Wonders’, ‘Those Old BW Movies’ (an improvised slant on ‘Dream A Little Dream Of Me’) and the fairytale realism of ‘Knock Down Ginger’ quench a nostalgic dry throated thirst, thankfully without whimsy. But by wearing hand-me-down labels ranging from nu-folk to skiffle, rock and pop, its hard to pin down his style and with ‘Moscow State Circus’, ‘Atlas’, ‘Crown The Clown’ and ‘God In Space’ adding further pieces to his ever expanding jigsaw, its certainly not going to happen in this review.
What is certain is that there’s more to Eugene McGuinness than first meets the eye but like so many that have gone before him, we’ve been here before and McGuinness could quite conceivably stroll around completely unnoticed in the crowd. But, like his self-professed Rubik’s Cube of a world, his debut possesses a fascinating charm that if you can figure it out is difficult to put down.
