Sunday 3 November 2013

Charlie Big Time - Sale or Return ep (Jigsaw Records)

Working for yourself means you have this kind of feeling at least three times every single day of the week, ,  but Charlie Big Time's own perfect brand of melancholia is perfect for that pre-Monday feeling; all barley hidden angst, disbelief, and a general world-weariness with smalltown life.

Heck, they pretty much spell this out on the opening track of their excellent new ep, 'Sale or Return'. 'A Sunday Afternoon Well Spent' is all paranoia and self-loathing, with Matt Pendlebury's whispery vocals only adding the sense of claustaphobic sadness. For lovers of, um, Lovejoy, Harper Lee, Pinkie, Brighter... that sorta stuff.

Throughout this record, Charlie Big Time celebrate life's outsiders, or at least being on the outside. The title track carries this theme effortlessly - a kind daydream of perfection that may or may not come true... but probably, knowing their luck, won't.

The song glides effortless into the whispy waltz of 'Pitiful, Delightful and Alarming', which actually dares to hint at life outside the drudge, before 'From the Cradle to the Bar' takes us right back there, via a Prefab Sprout-ish tale of let downs and deceit and divorce from reality.

In our darkest, wildest moments, we'd probably all like to think we can relate to some of the stories told in these songs - and there's some beauty to be find in that, despite the subject matter. Carry on wallowing.

No comments: