A much improved album offering from one of September’s Down At The Abbey headliners.
Whilst there were things we enjoyed about Antony Szmierek’s debut album, we weren’t totally sold on it. We caught enough of his Reading Festival set last year to start reevaluating, it was a staggering outpouring of positivity and hope.
This second album doubles down on everything that was on the first album but it all just feels far more confident, far more fresh and it absolutely fizzes along.
The former teacher from Manchester hits his stride on this follow-up. Opener ‘Chalk’ is musically stronger than pretty much any track on the debut. Szmierek’s spoken word flow pulls you in with with its world building and story telling.
One of the biggest improvements is his willingness to sing on this one, the voice able to more confidently carry a tune and a song like on ‘Godzilla Hotel.’ Another improvement is the range of collaborators, it stops it being repetitive in the way Service Station At The End Of The Universe could feel. Ellur, 1-800 Girls, Imogen and the Knife, MAX RAD and Pretty Girl all add something to the tracks they feature on.
Musically it is another dance album, but it moves into different sub-genres with far greater confidence. Lyrically, Szmierek splits his time between imaginative portraits of moments in time and a sense of self reflection. There are deep insights into moments of loneliness, worries about the world and where he fits into it. The biggest compliment is that you just cannot imagine anyone else having made it. On Service Station, The Streets made for an obvious comparison point. You can’t imagine much of this album having been made by Mike Skinner. Szmierek has hit his stride and it will be fascinating to see where he goes next.
Wow, this is a huge upgrade on what came before. Confident, more tightly constructed, much sharper music, much more on point lyrical flow. His appearance in Reading next month for Down At The Abbey already felt like it was going to be one of the highlights but this just doubles down on that. This is such a gloriously wonderful British album, somehow low-key and intimate and epic and huge all at once.
Essential Tracks: Everything
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