Apr 29 2008 6:03 pm,
Sam Sparro ‘Sam Sparro’
(Island)
Sam Sparro’s self titled debut is totally of the moment - following the footsteps of Hercules And Love Affair this scene is making melancholy disco the new thinking mans music. The first single ‘Black and Gold’ stampedes its way through your ears, the bassline throbbing and Sparro’s soulful sincerity souring through waves of sadness. But when he’s not singing life affirming songs, Sparro makes greasy, thick, quaff styling music. There are definite Prince-esque elements about him like in ‘Cottonmouth’ or ‘Hot Mess’, he squeals and writhes with lyrics like ‘I know you fancy yourself as a sexy bitch/It’s in the way that you walk/Do you kiss your mother with your expensive lips?’ On tracks like ‘Waiting For Time’ his voice resounds like a young Omar but coming out of the body of a young gay white man – maybe like Jake Shears from the Scissor Sisters if he tied an anvil to his nuts and threw it off a skyscraper. The album is a multifaceted piece of work with many magnificent moments and a couple of forgettables (for instance ‘Recycle It!’ which sounds like a
Harriet Gibsone
