DIY retro pop
One man bands in real life are never as good or as funny as they seemed on television. Archangel is the work of one man, Nick Webber, and as far as we can tell he doesn’t have cymbals between his knees, he doesn’t play a drum on his back attached to his leg by string and there is no accordion in sight. Quite frankly, the kids of today are being short-changed by the shoddy imitations and technology using one man bands that are prevalent today.
Then again, if you are happy to hear the sound of a modern artist, ‘How To Lose Your Best Friend’ is the title of the album and also the opening song on the record. Immediately belying the modest recording status of the album, the song roars into life and tosses in a few references from the start. There is a Foo Fighters syle drive and energy to the song but sadly halfway through the track there is a Dire Straits / Sting aping melody that no one needs to hear. It’s punchy and upbeat and the song really powers through to its conclusion and it does get into your head after a few listens. It’s more nagging than memorable but it does the job as the opening track.
One of the things that possibly happens because its all down to Webber or perhaps it just seems more relevant psychologically, but there are many parts of the album which sound repeated. If you like an album to fit thematically and sound like a solid body of work then this is up your street but even on second track, ‘Physical Energy’ the electro backing begins to grate as it gets a bit annoying. The same can be said for the vocals of Webber, although it’s a matter of taste when it comes to singing and some of the vocoder effects work quite nicely.
For the work of one man, it’s a fairly commendable piece of work, especially on the pop thrust of ‘Do It Again’ and ‘Drive’ but it is being judged differently than if a full fledged band released this record. Its easier to forgive some of the recognition and blander moments because of the hard work put in by Webber but really, whether you buy or “acquire” this album to listen, there's going to be an opportunity cost involved with that and it shouldn’t matter if it was made by one man or by a full on Russian army.
It’s a quirky and casual blast of retro pop and it may be the start of a great career but if Nick Webber really wants to become a huge hit he will have to start making some friends and sharing the responsibility.