As a member of such vaunted bands as
the Royal We
,
Sexy Kids
Correcto
, and, most impressively,
Veronica Falls
Patrick Doyle
played a vital part in the making of quite a few classic indie pop songs and at least one brilliant album,
' debut.
Boys Forever
is his first solo venture and he stakes out his own territory with a sure-handed calmness on this self-titled debut. He's not doing anything very tricky here, just simple indie pop with a little bit of noise around the edges that will be familiar to anyone who's heard
Teenage Fanclub
or
the Vaselines
.
Doyle
surrounds his sweetly plaintive vocals with grimily jangling guitars, sparse piano and keyboard lines, straightforward drums and cymbal splashes. It's a sound that never comes close to the drama of
, but aims for something more reassuringly pleasant and hits the mark dead-on. Happy tunes like "Voice in My Head" and "Brian" ramble along nicely like songs
Norman Blake
might have been carrying in his back pocket, while the few that get a little dark, like "Things" and "I'll Remember You," do so in a mellow fashion that won't spoil the peaceful, pastoral mood set elsewhere. A couple songs, like the album-opening "Poisonous" and the steady-rocking "Underground," have sharp enough hooks to lodge themselves firmly in the memory, and while a few more like that would have been a plus, the lack of them isn't a deal breaker either since the record flows so smoothly.
is an unassuming debut, but that doesn't mean it should be ignored.
shows great promise as both a singer and songwriter. While his musical ideas could easily be expanded into something a little bigger and flashier, they could stay small like this and be perfectly fine. Not every album has to bash listeners over the head with wild ideas and massive sounds; sometimes it's enough to provide a warm hug or a tender word, and
does a fine job providing both. ~ Tim Sendra