The Early Learnings of Eugene McGuinness

Album review

Featuring the infectious, instant-classic debut single "Monsters Under the Bed," a cheerful ode to paranoia and information overload set to a tune that recalls both Beck and Blur at their respective finest, The Early Learnings of Eugene McGuinness is a too-brief introduction to one of the most interesting and most British songwriters to come out of the current neo-Brit-pop spate. The Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, and the Kaiser Chiefs, not to forget minor acts like Little Man Tate, are all entirely capable of catchy tunes and clever lyrical twists. But the best tunes on this eight-track mini-album reveal McGuinness to be shooting for something a bit more than the next "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor." A wordy lyricist with a strong eye for sociocultural detail, McGuinness is firmly in the sons of Ray Davies camp alongside the Television Personalities' Dan Treacy, Paul Weller, and Damon Albarn: the jauntily snarky city travelogue "Bold Street" and "A Child Lost in Tesco" are particularly solid examples of his lyrical bent. Musically, the album can be overstuffed and over the top, with McGuinness seemingly throwing every arrangement and production idea he could into songs like "High Score" and even the relatively simple closer "A Girl Whom My Eyes Shine for But My Shoes Run From." The ungracious might complain about the resultant busy, hyperkinetic sound, but in fact, it's a perfect counterpoint to the jangled edge of many of McGuinness' prolix lyrics, and more restrained tunes like the gentle "Madeline" provide respites from the sonic onslaught. Barely 21 when he was signed to Domino Records and given his own subsidiary label, Eugene McGuinness has both talent and potential, and bears watching.
© Stewart Mason /TiVo