Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly: Searching For The Hows and Whys
Monday, 10 Mar 2008 11:09
Sam Duckworth - angry young man.
Warner, out March 10th.
In a nutshell...
Missed opportunity whose immature preaching grates horribly
What's it all about?
Searching for the Hows and Whys is the follow-up to the critically-acclaimed debut album of British singer-songwriter Sam Duckworth, who goes by the most unnecessarily-long stage name around, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager, Duckworth's first release two years ago, was extremely well received amongst critics and punters alike, ending up in Q and NME magazines' top 100 albums of 2006.
For his second attempt, Duckworth has recruited producer Nitin Sawhney to help build on the considerable success he has experienced already in his short career. The album consists of 14 tracks and even has time for an interlude half way through calling on listeners not to " let the pressures get you down, keep singing out, keep singing proud", very much setting the tone for the entire album.
Who's it by?
Sam Duckworth broke onto the scene in 2006 with his previously mentioned debut album. The 22-year-old from Essex soon acquired a considerable following with his mix of indie and emo tunes and his unique gigging style.
His stage name reportedly comes from a feature in a computer gaming magazine which described a solution for a Batman game with the sub-heading, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.
As an example...
"There's a war going on our own front door step with the Jews and the Islam-aphoebes because every time there a bomb goes off we get religious probes/There will always be extremists acting in the names of their god./But the gods they worship will never hear them call." – I Could Build You A Tower
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys:
They say the old cliches are the best, and the classic, 'difficult second album', has once again reared its ugly head here. There is very little chance of Duckworth's second attempt picking up much apart from considerable criticism of his new-found preaching.
What the others say:
"While his opinions are largely agreeable, there's little depth; Duckworth at times slips into facile petulance, but is mostly just baffled." – Independent
"Young and Lovestruck's cynical take on modern love is swathed in mariachi horns, while Kate Nash sweetens the bitterness of Better Things, but Duckworth's insecurity and frustration jars with the breezy beauty of his songs." - Guardian
So is it any good?
This album drifts along fairly inoffensively until it hits track seven. Smack bang in the middle of the collection of 14 songs, I Could Build You A Tower, is a complete and utter disaster and threatens to ruin everything that has gone before and comes after it. It's an embarrassing and cringeworthy song that fails on every level. The young Duckworth clearly decided that half way through his second album was the time to start launching into a bit of the old preaching; telling us all about the wrongs in the world and that if only we'd just talk to each other everything would be OK. Filled with clips of BBC news readers reporting on the Virginia Tech shootings, this song effectively undermines everything else Duckworth offers up on his second album.
As a result, there are only a very few songs that escape the huge shadow cast by this monstrosity. Better Things, which features Kate Nash for the first 50 seconds, is hands down the best thing on offer here. Moving Forward and Find the Time are also fine songs, with the former especially making full advantage of Duckworth's distinctive and gorgeous voice.
It's a real shame therefore that this unique tool could not be used to its full effect as it was in the debut album. This is a very muddled attempt and whoever's decision it was to allow track seven to be recorded, let alone be included on the album, must take full responsible for ruining what potentially should have been an impressive effort from a unique and talented songwriter.
Unfortunately, what we're presented with instead is an amateur-sounding, patronising, confused collection of tunes. Duckworth doesn't seem to be able to decide what he wants to do with us, to preach at us from his soap box or send us to sleep with his sweet lullabies.
A considerable waste.
5/10
Richard James
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