Whizz Kid. I like that name. It suggests urban urgency mixed with intelligence. It is also the name for the collaboration between the ever prolific plinky plinker Harold Nono and J-Kane with the big question being if hanging about with a Belgian has got our Mr Nono to man up and escape the bedsit.
Certainly, “Covered in Santa Wheels” does seem more purposeful than Mr Nono’s solo efforts with clear evidence of outside the MacBook powered box thinking. There is, for example, a pleasing soundtrack style feel to the opening track “Falling Out Of Trees Falling Down Hills” that successfully suggests emotion rather than self-absorption. Even the most typical song – “Trapeze” – gains sufficient grace to cause a man’s mind to wander in a Vangelis direction whilst “I Fall In The Grandad Bus” turns the tables on itself and ends up sufficiently quirky to be taken as French.
“Covered in Santa Wheels” is a very decent effort that will no doubt find friends amongst those for whom headphones are a fashion necessity.