| News & Reviews |
| 7. Custom Blue “All Follow Everyone” (Album - Island) |
| Custom Blue are the South London Duo of Alex Pilkington and Simon Shippey, old school buddies whose friendship has blossomed into a musical partnership of impressive proportions. As the creators behind this debut they pride themselves on the fact that they’ve listened, absorbed and hopefully regurgitated the songwriting skills of greats such as Joni Mitchell, The Beatles and Neil Young. And with reason, they can pat themselves on the back. Above and beyond the heart rending string arrangements (provided by Caroline Daniel) and the distinguished percussion (provided by Spacek’s Steve and Morgan), or indeed the expert production (provided by their good selves), this is a collection of unforgettably well written, well arranged songs. Graceful, thoughtful and poignant, the songs stretch from Portishead meets Brian Eno (“Now”) to Art Garfunkel singing Zero 7 (“Ionia”) and to The Byrds meets The Beach Boys (“So Long To Summer”) All praise over, there are faults, some of the vocals could do with strengthening, and there are the “worse” as well as the “better” tracks, but nevertheless, if it’s this good, and they’re only just on the debut, the world can look forward to many greater things. |
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