Boasting 2016’s top single in ‘Not That Easy’ and the video of the year in ‘For Your Own Good’, Yip Man – aka Al Nero – now makes a stab at long-playing pop perfection.
The 12 tracks on his debut solo release follow the pattern of the tunes that trailed it, ‘Bamburner’s spidery guitar and syncopated beats hide his self-effacing lyrics – “Spent a long time kissing the canvas” as he draws on 80s new wave with its swirling keyboards, and to US slacker rock, ‘Silver Wings’ shot through with Nero’s lyrics (“Social butterflies? Pass the pesticide”) and chugging backing.
But the calypso rhythms of ‘Stuck On Repeat’, which make a cameo re-appearance at the end, as much as anything sum up the creative depths on show here.
(This review originally appeared in the Buchan Observer)