Think Like A Key 2025
Art
Living in the sound of Norther Ireland, intrepid troubadour travels from coast to coast to seek out a perfect tune of a solo stripe.
Perhaps, his fame with DISREALI GEARS, GHEARS and BURNING CODES is parochial, yet it doesn’t discourage Paul Archer from trying to send his message across the world. So while the title of the Belfast musician’s first platter issued under his own name seems to be stating the obvious, it’s still a statement – and a bold one at that. Just scan the list of this album’s tracks to see a concept emerging in the loose threads which bind cuts with the word “fear” in them, and connect no less than three numbers mentioning “soul” in their headings. Then perceive how Archer’s lyrics treat the record’s title as a verb in the “Art till you feel it” callout, and Paul’s creative battles become obvious – and engrossing in the way melee scenes are onscreen.
“Art” is a stylistically varied affair, so anxious opener “Heavy Soul” sets the tone for things to come through a throbbing clang and booming echoes both Motown and new wave crowds would approve of, but doesn’t preclude the listener from latching onto surprises which follow in spades. If the shuffle and shoegaze of the riff-pushing titular number are par for the course here, and the relentless groove and spaced-out vigor behind the Bowiesque “Struggles Won” feel natural as well, folk inflections and anthemic refrains of “Belfast (Place Of My Soul)” give Archer’s passionate delivery an unexpected edge, challenging the proverbial luck of the Irish with a deeply personal love for the Emerald Isle. However, “Fear Destroyer” offers a big-sky scope and a silvery sonic lining to offset its aural assault and airy aloofness before segueing into the insistent, albeit deceptively stolid, “No Fear” where the flute trills of HORSLIPS’ Jim Lockhart provide a fantastic respite from Andy Hawkins’s harmonic guitar waves.
Handclaps that propel a lot of action on this platter turn into spiritual drive on “I’ll Be There For You” with its minimalistic instrumental spectrum, immensely heating up the piece’s slightly histrionic atmosphere, until the organ-bolstered “You’re Not Alone” picks up the “Waiting for My Man” vibe and adds sympathy to the mix via Paul’s gentle falsetto. Still, the solemn “Truth From Lies” hardly requires more than strum and vocals to project pregnant warmth of his concern, even though “Detector” draws on piano, cello and violin to drench the artist’s voice in chamber wonder only to introduce electronica to the overall picture and let the album’s vinyl version fade into fantasy. But then, there’s the boisterous “Sticks And Stones” to restore the mood balance and prepare the place for “Moving With The Light” which will wrap up the record’s CD variant by sculpting hope out of upbeat Celtic motifs.
Cerebral and emotional at the same time, this is a mature work of an auteur-in-waiting.
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