The man with the plan once remarked that the future has already happened and it is just waiting for you to catch up with it. I’ve no idea what that might actually mean but the man with the plan always had that quirky Glaswegian take on quantum physics. Also from Glasgow – how’s that for a neat, and completely uncontrived, segue – is Sweeney Straddles The Sun with his album “Advert For The Deprived” having a similarly quirky Glaswegian approach to making music.
“Advert For The Deprived” is a dipped in plastic album driven by the power of the computer yet it is also infused with copious amount of reverb and some distinctly oblique lyrics. You might well call that an individualistic approach – and I do - but it is one that makes this album stand out from all those mainstream clones out there and will duly cause all the designer beards in the better parts of town comb themselves erect. Soundbites and samples are not in short supply either with those scratchy reminders of reality providing an artistic amount of counterpoint in these twelve hymns for the properly educated but spiritually dispossessed.
“Advert For The Deprived” is a coherent album that has meat on its bones even if you are not quite sure what kind of animal produced it. Cappuccino drinkers may not take to the mix of lo-fi stylisations and determined quirkiness yet it is undeniable that said qualities add to this album’s charm. So, perhaps not one for everyone but it works for both me and the man from the plan. And there is a guitar solo too. I knew that before I heard it.
Best Song: “Heaven Has Another Angle”
Verdict: Right angled magnificence