A little housekeeping up front: the record I’m about to review is the debut EP from my fellow Stereokiller Campbell ‘Shambles’ Miller. Rest assured, this is as impartial a review as is possible in the circumstances. I’m the new boy, and I’ve never met Campbell. Hence, this is my first assignment; my ‘baptism of fire’, as SK editor Marcus so reassuringly put it. The bastard.
The sound is stripped-back, to say the least, consisting mainly of one acoustic guitar, one vocal (with the exception of “My Best Friend Is An Outsider”, with its brief choral coda) and the occasional cello line. What these four tracks lack in audio fidelity and embellishment is made up for with a melodic and lyrical prowess absent from many of these acoustic singer-songwriters that so dominate the local unsigned music scenes in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Miller’s voice is thoroughly Scottish, so if you don’t like the sound of a singer’s natural accent, you won’t like his (it’s probably most comparable with Idlewild’s Roddy Woomble at his most vernacular). And more fool you, because everyone knows that this faux-American crap that everyone-and-their-X-Factor-loving-auntie adopts is lamentable, the mark of a vocalist terrified of being an individual.
The melodies are strong, and the scope for Miller to go further is certainly there, given the right arrangements and polishes. Okay, this isn’t world-changingly original (but then, really, what or who is these days?) and one can’t help but feel the mix is a little weak, but the lyrical spark present is easy to detect and Shambles vs. The Dragon Wizard makes for enjoyable listening, surely enough to leave the average listener wanting little more, apart from another release. Preferably one with a less daft title, mind.
Our Arbitrary Numerical Verdict:
Articles our internet goblins think may interest you...
Andrew Hill is a freelance music journalist and guitarist for Edinburgh band Sellotape. 
Trackbacks / Pings