Mellow Drunk - Never Sleep At Night

  by Geraint Jones

published: 5 / 12 / 2003

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Admittedly it’s an unlikely scenario, but as soon as front man Leigh Gregory begins singing you might wonder if you missed an opening gambit on 'Stars In Their Eyes': “Tonight, Matthew, I’m going to be Steve Kilbey from the Church”. It’s positively spooky. Musically too, Mellow Drunk aren’t dissimilar to the Church – highly melodic, layered guitar-based psychedelia being the order of the day. Fortunately they’re very good at it too. In fact ‘Never Sleep At Night’ is a lot more accessible and memorable than anything I’ve heard from the Church for a long time. And despite the name not being the greatest I’ve heard (far from it) this, the San Franciscan’s second album, is a strong effort that deserves to get noticed. The album loses its way here and there with a few comparatively indistinct contributions, but these are easily outweighed by the band’s stronger material – ‘There For You’ its brass section so reminiscent of Love, the cascading guitars employed on ‘Definitely’, the multilayered hook-laden title cut and the sonic crescendos of ‘ A Different Color On My Door’are just a few examples. It isn’t made clear who plays lead or rhythm so we’ll attribute joint praise to both Gregory and Rick Maymi as the band sound at their most incisive when both guitars are interwoven to their full potential. Leigh Gregory’s voice is undeniably reminiscent of Steve Kilbey’s, but that’s not a negative criticism by any means. His voice also displays subtle hints of both Peter Perrett and Nikki Sudden too and collectively, whatever the influence, it adds substance to his evocative and occasionally dark and mysterious lyrics. All told, ‘Never Sleep At Night’ is a richly intoxicating brew, making the band's name more appropriate than I first realised.

Track Listing:-

1 Never Sleep At Night
2 There For You
3 The Top
4 Before & After Then
5 Shone On Everyone
6 Queen Of The Night
7 Definitely
8 Very Strange Times
9 On The Hill
10 Dead Sea Fruit
11 A Different Color On My Door
12 Mellow Drunk

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