Needs & Wants – Andrew Morris
“I’m not afraid to sing Hallelujah,” croons Brisbane singer-songwriter Andrew Morris, but his optimism rings a little false on Needs & Wants, his fourth offering. I mean, it’s not his fault – for a few months there the world stage, the nation, life in general, it all just seemed peachy – it’s not his fault things have depressed some lately. One By One has it’s roots in K-Rudd’s apology to indigenous Australians, embalming the moment in gospel swagger. The refrain of Don’t Know What I Want is “Everything’s going to be alright!”, un-ironically sung over the top of four-on-the-floor piano pop. But is it, Andrew? Is it really? Most of the upbeat numbers fall prey so the same sense of irrelevance. The best moments of Needs & Wants are the stranger, more introspective ones. Price to Pay is a funereal, organ-driven ballad, with a beautiful warbling horn arrangement; Alone Without You is charged with a bit of old-fashioned rock n’ roll and a slide guitar riff ala George Harrison. But the stand-out track is easily the two-and-a-half minute single Lover, whose dissonant, distorted guitar and pre-school-piano ostinato are the most exciting elements among the rest of Morris’s traditionally-arranged keyboard-driven pop songs.
**1/2
