Fyfe Dangerfield - Fly Yellow Moon
Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 2:02PM
As a founding member and Chief Creative Officer for British adventurous art-poppers Guillemots, Fyfe Dangerfield certainly knows his way around a left-field, kitchen-sinkful song of quirky charm. So it's somewhat surprising that his debut solo album Fly Yellow Moon plays things relatively close to the vest, albeit with plenty of resonant appeal in tow. Released in the U.K. in January to solid reviews ("…an enthralling and at times euphoric affair" declared MOJO) and arriving stateside May 25, FYM began as a five-day, stripped-down studio event in late 2008, a chance for Dangerfield to explore some song structures that didn't fit with the Guillemots' zig-zagging spunky energy and loose improvisational feel.
Certainly songs such as as the wistful folk/pop ballads "Livewire" and "Firebird" as well as the McCartney-ish heart-strings tugger "Barricades" emerge as straight-ahead and spare works. But there's still a good supply of playful bounce in the steps of the pulsing "Any Direction" and the richly tailored "She Needs Me", one of a pair of songs Dangerfield handed over to Duffy producer Bernard Butler to mix. Most of these songs were written during (and about) a year-long relationship, “...when I wasn’t even trying to write," says Dangerfield, "after a beautiful night, or an argument, when something would just appear that captured the moment." The affair is over -- but fortunately, for us, the songs survived. Fly Yellow Moon's classic pop reference points -- ELO to Motown -- delight but never distract from the fresh, exuberant songcraft. Highly recommended.
Fyfe Dangerfield - "Livewire" (from Fly Yellow Moon)
Fyfe Dangerfield - "She Needs Me" (from Fly Yellow Moon)
Reader Comments (1)
Reviewed this album on my blog back in February when the UK release came out. Very strong album, thrilled to see it is getting a U.S. release. "She Needs Me" is an infectious track that in a fair world would be all over pop radio. Glad to see you're giving this deserving album some coverage!
http://mikea7.typepad.com/now_its_on/2010/02/album-review-fyfe-dangerfield-fly-yellow-moon.html