I suppose you would live on a longboat if you aspired to be character. In fact, I’m surprised that Russell Brand – the living embodiment of a fart joke – hasn’t thought of it as means of further enhancing his reputation for synthetic zaniness. Fortunately for our ears, there are people like Blabbermouth (aka Steve Thompson) out there who don’t quite fit the mould yet still manage to resonate in the key of life.
“Me and The Metronome” is an unassuming album. The songs don’t reach out and grab your attention. Instead they discreetly and politely charm you with “Death of a Songwriter”, rather interestingly, seeming to apologise for such an approach and clearly indicating that Blabbermouth knows exactly what he is trying to achieve. Even in whimsical moments like “Life Is A Cat”, that light hearted topping hides a substantial message. Admittedly, the true whimsy of “Chicken” is an almost embarrassingly simple ode to an ordinary and unadventurous life but it is also the kind of throwaway song that you would expect of a true English eccentric.
Charm is something not often found nowadays in music and it is charm that Blabbermouth has in abundance. In a sense, he hankers back to the days of the troubadours that the English folk music scene produced in the early seventies. However, that’s not to say that Blabbermouth is the past reborn again as the subjects of his songs speak more of the concerns of today than his spiritual forbearers ever did of their time. Being elegant, understated and more than a bit sentimental might not seem like good reasons for recommendation in these days of Saturday night razzmatazz but this time you can actually trust your ears.