Album Review

Findlay Brown – Losing The Will To Survive

• 7th Jun 2007

This folky and nostalgic sounding single is polished and easy on the ear without really making any sort of lasting impression. Brown’s vocals are fine, the music is fine and the production is, you guessed it, just fine. There are definite references to Paul Simon and I could imagine having no problems putting it on if I was entertaining a young lady back at mine, about to make my move at 3 in the morning. It comfortably melts into the background and could probably find a place in most collections. But it’s more the sort of thing you get free with the Sunday Times, than music you’d bother to go out and purchase.

I think that the main problem with Losing The Will To Survive, is that it’s neither here nor there. It’s got no ‘je ne sais quoi’, no wow factor or sense of the unique. It needs a bit more of a twist to be the finished product. Perversely, the remixes on the single seem to provide the excitement that the single lacks and perhaps he should release one of these instead, or at least think about exploring other angles of production in future offerings. Don’t get me wrong, I love acoustic and folk music but this ain’t quite cutting the mustard. It’s just another face in the crowd.