“All songs written, recorded, produced and played by Rob in his room except for some parts probably recorded at Zach’s house whilst he was at lunch.”
“All songs written, recorded, produced and played by Rob in his room except for some parts probably recorded at Zach’s house whilst he was at lunch.”
Rob Crow – Living Well
I’m a sucker for choosing what release to review by simply judging a CD by its cover. In this case Rob Crowe has chosen a nice picture of himself standing outside his house replete with baseball caps, heavy metal style t-shirt, three-quarter length pants and a cup of coffee in his hand. Next to him, lines up against the wall of his house are some scary pumpkins and some posters with words such as Zombie and Count Dracula on them.
Yep, regardless of the music, I have to review this one. That the music turns out to be warm, charming, empathic if somewhat straight down the line lo-fi rock is an added bonus. I say lo-fi because the sleeve notes reveal that "All songs written, recorded, produced and played by Rob in his room except for some parts probably recorded at Zach’s house whilst he was at lunch."
Stand out tracks are I Hate You Rob Crowe, which is a funny, thrashy affair and Taste, which reveals Crow’s talent for simple, understated melody. In some ways it’s a classic example of the remarkable cottage industry that is American singer song-writing. With songs such as Over Your Heart there are nods to people like Doug Gillard or Tobin Sprout, especially Mr Sprout’s Moonflower Plastic. Introspective, and very much in the home-grown genre. If you’re in the mood for some slightly sentimental lo-fi song-writing coupled with scuzzy instrumentation, then this release is definitely for you. Thumbs up from us.
Words: Richard Foster.