Categories : Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 2/5 Released: 2005 Reviewer: Jason Morelyle |
Before going into details on Rick Temporao and the New Low’s debut album, Down in Front (2005), it might be worth looking at the personal mythology that Temporao is earnestly building around this project. According to his website, he “…left everything he knew about himself and his music to travel abroad. From awe-inspiring sights in Istanbul to quiet introspective days in Lisbon, the experience fuelled the creation of the songs, the band and ultimately the record […] After returning home with a suitcase full of fresh songs, he immediately set about hand picking a group of talented and hungry musicians to form his band.â€
Golly gee, what a romantic. Too bad all that time and energy was wasted on this weak excuse of an album.
Critical acclaim notwithstanding, Rick Temporao’s Down in Front is simply bad. Some write-ups – including his own self-indulgent website – point to influences like Beck, The Flaming Lips, Sam Roberts, and Elvis Costello. Don’t be fooled. Keep in mind that the producer for this is Brian Allen, the man behind other acts like Triumph, Lee Aaron, and Haywire. And considering that they have produced a video, cranked up the marketing campaign, are getting a lot of radio airplay, are actively nurturing the “myth of Rick,†and have sent this album to every conceivable music reviewer on the planet, it all adds up to the fact that this album is predominantly image driven. Down in Front sifts out and seizes on the lowest common denominator of modern pop-rock; there is no innovation here – only an opportunistic monitoring of the popular trends of the hour, and a clear understanding of how to make it work in an increasingly homogenized and monotone wasteland of mainstream music.
From vapid balladry to exasperatingly shallow pop-rock fluff, Down in Front has it all. The music is simple and undemanding, and the lyrics are trite, clichéd, and embarrassingly predictable. Take for instance the limpid ballad ‘As Much as You’:
She’s just a modern gypsy
Queen who wore a fast push-up
Bouquet she crossed her heart
& then the corner of my eye
we’re not the ships that you
might think we’re more like ice
cubes in the drink.
Is he serious? I think so because Mr. Temporao takes himself very seriously. So seriously in fact that from the opening strains of the first track, ‘By the River,’ the entire project spirals out of control and bounces off the guardrails before it even gets started. And that, my friends, is what happens when the driver can’t take his eyes off the mirror because he’s so in love with himself. And that’s what I mean by “taking himself too seriously:†narcissism is generally not something I look for in music – unless it’s meant to be funny. And as far as I can tell, Temporao’s Down in Front is not meant to be funny. Which only makes it funnier. Bottom line: If you’re happy with music that is conventional, safely pedestrian, and banal to the point of tears, then go buy this album.
Buy Down in Front from iTunes >> 
