SAM ISAAC – BEARS
Sam Isaac’s nostalgic pop is laced with overt sentimentality. This isn’t a bad thing – his clean, spoony baritone recalls Martin Rossiter of Gene’s melancholic rambles, and his dense vocal harmony arrangements and the bouncy guitars and pianos are blended in a very accessible British brand of modern pop. There is energy and some inventiveness in these tunes, particularly the commercial yet catchy Come Back Home Tonight, and Fire Fire brings back some of the bittersweet rock of the early 1990’s Brit invasion. Sometimes he picks up the tempo to almost Franz Ferdinand proportions, and the synthesizers come out to accompany these energy swells. At times it feels like we’re listening to the same 5 songs over and over again, largely due to his sentimental love-letter approach to lyric writing, and the earnest drive of the rhythm guitars pounding away at sometimes too-predictable chord movements. However, this is simple and sweet stuff, executed well and bound to make the teenage girls swoon just a little.
***
