Quiet is the new loud
Miss Black America front-man Seymour Patrick (a.k.a. Open Mouth) returns to the fray here with 'Castle Keep', a rather pleasant acoustic number that lacks none of the lyrical bite of his previous outfit. The short but sweet instrumental '327' is no less impressive and suggests that maybe he should stick to this new found path and shelve the electric guitars (and perhaps the band) for now.
Artrocker/Time Out tip for the top Dexy trades in jangly, folk tinted indie-pop, 'Waiting For An Accident' has just the slightest hint of Elliott Smith about it. Far too savvy to resort to ham-fisted plagiarism Dexy drops in the odd bit of harmonica and the kind of twisted melodies that made Badly Drawn Boy a more than mildly interesting prospect in 1999 (that's a compliment in case you hadn't guessed). The south Londoner's other effort - the dreamy 'Asleep In Your Attic'- is rather less memorable, the jaunty tone is gone and the world weariness is tangible. Let's hope he's got his mojo back on for his next outing.