Album Review

Eg White – Adventure Man

• 22nd May 2009

Eg White? Who hell he?, I hear you cry. Well Eg, or Francis to his mother, is a veteran songsmith who’s written for Take That, Kylie Minogue, James Morrison, Charlotte Church, and, er, James Blunt. In 2004 he won the Ivor Novello award for Best Song for ‘Leave Right Now’, recorded by Will Young, and more recently has worked with Adele and Duffy. He released his first solo album ‘Turn Me on, I’m A Rocket Man’ to critical acclaim in 1996 so follow up ‘Adventure Man’ is long overdue.

He starts things off with ‘But California’, a romantic apology. All delicate guitars and strings with a catchy chorus, it comes to life during the bridge which has a gorgeous key change. The standard is maintained with the autobiographical ‘Weird Friendless Kid’, which builds up gradually but leaves you feeling it has an extra gear in it somewhere. It keeps you guessing with some clever chord changes though, as does ‘My People’. Eg cuts loose a little here, until he gets to the chorus which undoes all the good work. ‘Til The End’ has an R&B feel, but has an unsettling noise all of the way through it – a bit like a robot cat sat on your doorstep all night, mewling to get in – which is a distraction. Things get back on track with ‘Pay Later’ with its funky, flatulent Stevie Wonder synth bass and an ending slightly reminiscent of ‘I Am The Walrus’

‘Broken’ is built around a simple piano riff and is one of the more upbeat tracks on the album whilst the ballad ‘There’s Going To Be Someone’ ends somewhat bizzarely in a fake advert. ‘Whatever Makes You sick’ is a highlight, the liveliest song on the album with its nursery rhyme chorus, chirruping synths and off kilter strings. It segues straight in to ‘Time To Fall’ which, on first listen, I found merely pleasant, but rewards further listens. ‘If You Run’ is a tale of obsessive love and ‘Pull Me Through’ is a ballad which more than reminded me of David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’.

Less than a minute long, ‘Our Turn Will Come’ brings the album to an end with some rich Beach Boys harmonies.

What to say about this album? It’s a smash. Eg’s voice is sweet whilst retaining a blokeyness, and the quality of the songwriting is top notch – not one track is predictable or boring and any criticisms that can be levelled are trifling. In a word, it’s lovely.

Bloody awful nickname, though.