Mr Wright - Metropolitan

  by Chris Jones

published: 18 / 11 / 2004

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Review

I first heard the ornate pop stylings of Mr Wright on 1997's '...Is Always the Fancy Man.'  The Le Grand Magistery label was single handedly reviving the chamber pop genre via releases from Momus, Louis Philippe, and Kevin Wright (aka Mr Wright) and the song 'Hangover Square' was getting a fair bit of plays on my radio show.  Like Momus and Philippe, Kevin Wright had been part of the El Records camp with his band Always, so making lush, orchestral pop was something he was quite familiar with. 'Fancy Man' was followed by two other albums on Le Grand Magistery, 1999's 'Star Time' and 2001's 'Hello Is Anyone Out There.'  My musical leanings had led me into things less pop by then and to date I've not heard either of those albums.  In fact, I really hadn't heard anything about Mr Wright at all during that time. I've started listening to more things indie pop (both old and new) over the past two years and it was during one of those record buying missions that I stumbled upon this new album by Mr Wright.  He's now on the Siesta label, which seems like a fitting home, and sounding just as good as he did 7 years ago! Musically, Mr Wright is still creating rich, orchestral pop songs.  One of his strengths is that he can write songs that are both complex and simple.  It's orchestral, yet it doesn't sound "orchestrated"; he just uses a broader pop palette than most.  And the lyrics are smart without being pretentious or overly clever - something that I think Momus was less successful at (though maybe purposely). 'North West Six' starts things off alternating between quiet sections, with lyrics more spoken than sung and big, loud (for Mr Wright) sections with guitars and strings and Mr Wright asking, "Is there more to life than this?"  The cute side of Mr Wright takes over on 'Cats Eyes',which is highlighted by Kazmi Kubo speaking in Japanese and adding ba ba ba's to the mix.  This song is like a ride on a carousel, whimsically bouncing up and down as the lyrics tell you "we want you to love us".  And you will. This is followed by 'Anna Karina' which is a classic Mr Wright style love song.  The piano on this song has such a lightness to it that you'll want to fall in love with the next person who walks by.  And Mr Wright seems to feel that way to as he sings "Kiss me like you knew my name?/Hold me like you feel the same". The pairing of "Goodbye Baby' and 'Hello World' works perfectly to show the sadness that love can bring when the feeling fades away and how incredible life can be when one dares to dream and ventures forth again.  The piano and violin on 'Goodbye Baby' combine to slowly but surely crush your heart into oblivion and then the keyboards and dreamy vocals on 'Hello World' lift you effortlessly above all troubles. Another standout track on this album is the almost sinister sounding 'Over Your Rainbow.'  The lyrics are sour, fed up, and as close to angry as Mr Wright gets. An unanswered letter to an ex-lover seems to be the impetus for his unhappiness. And it doesn't sound like his ex-lover is doing well either - "You're falling to pieces/ breaking in bits/you came to conclude that/ this world is shit".  The tension builds and builds and the song becomes more and more uneasy as the lyrics get even darker and more bitter as Mr Wright sings of "the old times/ we never had.". While I had lost track of Mr Wright over the past several years, Kevin Wright surely hasn't lost his ability to create incredibly lush, intelligent songs that both define and transcend pop.  Whether being upbeat and whimsical or toned down and crushed, Mr Wright captures the essence of love and romance. And just as those are timeless subjects, so is Mr Wright's music.  And now it's time to go get those previous two albums.

Track Listing:-

1 North West Six
2 Crossing Shoot Up Hill
3 Cats Eyes
4 Anna Karina
5 Goodbye Baby
6 Hello World
7 Metropolitan
8 Autumn Sun
9 Over Your Rainbow
10 Future Love City
11 Underground