A disturbing trend has become apparent to me recently. That of dull, and distinctly middle of the road, acts getting credible female vocalists to guest on their songs to give them some credibility.
I object to this practice as it can spoil my enjoyment of some of my favourite artists in a single three minute blast.
First up was substandard Scottish Coldplay wannabes Snow Patrol. After hearing Gary Lightbody’s emotion free duet with Martha Wainwright I haven’t been able to stomach her debut album again. It was a firm favourite before, but I can’t bring myself to hear her anymore.
The middle of the road
Now I hear that Jenny Lewis is featuring on the new Brandon Flowers solo album. This is less of a worry as I can only bring myself to rate his band, the Killers, in the “not very good” category. They are too dull to provoke any real opinion, and I have enjoyed ‘When We Were Young’ as a drunk karaoke experience more than once.
More worrying is the knowledge that Neko Case features on the new Fran Healy album, released this week. Case is without a doubt my favourite vocalist. Her solo work and her work with the New Pornographers has been some of my favourite music for the last ten years. Travis on the other hand are one of the worst acts to come out of the UK in my lifetime. Confusing banal platitudes for depth and borrowed melody for “classic song writing” they were the bane of the radio for far too long. When the British public saw sense and lost interest in them (around the time of 2003’s dire 12 memories) it was a great relief.
Sadly 2010 is the year that charisma-free front man (a singer whose haircut was more influential than his song writing) has decided to foist his solo album upon us. The release has been surrounded by a reassuring lack of fanfare, but I’ll be steering well away from the radio for a while just to be safe.
The guest artists themselves must shoulder some responsibility for their lack of judgement. Just as it may make Healy’s song better, and him more credible, it makes Case less so.
So if Keane (the S-Club Juniors of pompous rock) approach Feist to appear on their new record I hope she has the sense to decline. And if grunting cliché machines The Kings of Leon approach Chan Marshal to sing with them she is best placed to tell them to back off.
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