Two years ago he was lumped in with the emergent chillwave subgenre but the shameless ebullience of ‘Young Hunger’ suggests that in his heart Hugo Manuel was never part of the too cool for school crowd. By holding off dropping his debut record until now he allowed his blog buzz to dissipate but at least he could go about making the record he wants to make not one precision tooled to fit into the dominant scene. Is it worth the wait? Unfortunately not.
From the rose-tinted cover onwards ‘Young Hunger’ is unabashedly pop, with toe-tapping rhythms and synth lines so glossy you can hear them squeak but it’s a strand of pop that for the most part seeks to recreate past glories rather than imagine an exciting new future. The backing tracks evoke Balearic beaches and 90’s RnB jams with Manuel and an admittedly impressive guestlist drizzled across them. Orlando Higginbotham of Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs appears on ‘My Life is Complete’ but stunning vocal performances have never really been his strongest suit and he brings nothing of real substance here. A similarly low-key Twin Shadow guests on ‘I Owe You This’; a glossy pop banger that would only just squeeze onto his own excellent ‘Confess’.
Arguably the best comes from Glasser on ‘Fall 4 U’, adding ethereal bounce to Manuel’s progressive pop whilst ‘Tell All Your Friends’ makes a decent fist of replicating Passion Pit’s warm summer fun but elsewhere the situation is not as rosy as the artwork makes out, ‘Evening Surrender’ is a grim slow jam, built on little more than synth washes, simple piano and click track and ‘My Girl’ proudly lifts from The Spice Girls ‘Wannabe’ almost word-for-word. It’s fitting for a producer who proudly proclaims his love of Steps and co but hardly a statement of artistic intent.
Not as swaggering as Twin Shadow or as bruised as How To Dress Well, ‘Young Hunger’ pitches itself at an emotional middle ground, the audience for which appears to be anyone who should otherwise know better. Balearic pop lends itself to huge cheesy melodies the best of which Manuel delivers with aplomb but his reliance on synth riffs that were outdated before he was born and a particular electronic vocal effect every time his vocals are required to compete with his myriad guests makes it a curiously self-conscious record
Slight both in length (only 10 real tracks) and in terms of depth, with too many guests and too little diversity ‘Young Hunger’ suggests Chad Valley should have had more than two years off.
4.0
Max Sefton
Two years after Twin Shadow’s debut ‘Forget’, George Lewis Jr is back with a second album of sophisticated New-wave and melancholy R&B, released on indie haven 4AD.
Relatively restrained opener ‘Golden Light’ doubles down on twinkling synth and downbeat piano, evoking neon lit streets as the singer looks back at a break-up and agonises over walking away. ‘You Call Me On’ begins with a scratchy, distorted guitar and a kind of industrial RnB backdrop before the vocalist shows up, pondering another partner who led him on. ‘Five Seconds’ goes for belting anthemics, sharing much of the same DNA as the synth-rock of Ladyhawke’s debut album. The vocal is strong but the lyrics and melody are less so, making it one of the least distinctive tracks on the album and a curious choice for lead single. Luckily four songs in the album really kicks into gear and doesn’t let up from then on. Said to be inspired by a motorcycle ride through Los Angeles, ‘Run My Heart’ perfectly captures the sense of freedom and exhilaration, like Bruce Springsteen if his leather jacket was studded with rhinestones rather than stained with petrol. Opening with a spooky Cure-like guitar line it’s helped by a full throttle chorus ‘This isn’t love / I’m just a boy / you’re just a girl’ that becomes more intense and vital with each repetition.
His leather-clad appearance in the artwork to ‘Confess’ may resemble George Michael but the second half of ‘Confess’ clearly owes more to the heady mix of God and Sex that made Prince such an explosive talent. In fact when the vocalist croons ‘I built a sanctuary for all your troubles and doubts’ on ‘Patient’ he’s closer to the Purple One’s lurid vision of psychedelic sky-scraping pop vision than Prince himself has been for years.
With a clear voice that suits both driving R&B and the Purple Rain-esque power ballads Lewis Jr is a powerful presence even if some of the tracks are rather too slick to provide genuine insight into his emotions. ‘I Don’t Care’ could be Brandon Flowers at his most louche whilst ‘The One’ opens on a vocal line strongly reminiscent of one of Morrissey’s solo tracks. Another standout, the lovelorn ‘Beg For the Night’ hangs around a shimmering U2-like guitar figure in the chorus but gives way to glossy New Wave synths in the verses and of course a squalling Prince-esque outro solo.
It’s rare that a record on 4AD shares more influences with Lady Gaga than Lush but ‘Confess’ demonstrates the revered labels knack for picking artists who can channel a whole range of influences into a cohesive and contemporary whole. A great night-time soundtrack.
7.4
Max Sefton
