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Although recent weather would have us believe the contrary, June marks the beginning of summer and as such there is an inundation of mood albums in an effort to cash in on 2010’s long summer drives or warm evenings that are in dire need of a soundtrack. So far we have had a few decent candidates from the likes of She & Him, Beach House and Laura Veirs so what has Wild Nothing’s Jack Tatum got to tempt us with on his debut album Gemini?
Talking about the latest offering from an indie-pop outfit being tinged with an 80s feel has become such a cliché in recent years that the feelings behind such a sentiment has truly lost all meaning. Tatum has been able to expertly distil off the best parts of 80s electronica acts New Order and then mix it in with a swell of ambient percussion and guitars. There is little here on Gemini that can be praised that has not been done many times before and yet each listen feels as incredibly fresh as those warm nights that it does so well to compliment.
There is something downright endearing about the man behind the nom de plume. It is very clear that this is an album that was most likely written, sung and produced in a bedroom using his MacBook with little influence from a record label. Whilst with some artists, like Owl City’s Adam Young, this would lead to extremely samey with some bordering on mushiness only surpassed by a rogue Richard Curtis script, Gemini manages to avoid this pitfall. Most of the lyrics are in fact undeniably pessimistic without ever threatening to traverse into the world of overtly emo music due to the combination with the more optimistically laden musical backing. Also of note is that Tatum’s voice is not exactly strong or technically proficient, at times some notes are quite noticeably missed, but a vocal track that is free of affectations suits the material perfectly.
Tracks ‘Chinatown’, ‘Live In Dreams’ and ‘Summer Holiday’ will all find their way onto mix-CDs very soon (and why not, they are exemplary songs in their own rights) but if you need an actual album to leave in the hi-fi as you sit outside watching the sun go down you cannot go far wrong with Gemini. The dreamy ambiance of the tracks will soothe as you relax in the fading sunlight whilst the lyrics will steal your heart and remind you of summer’s impermanence.
This album is already available to download right now and is physically released on June 28th.
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