Album Review
Paul Morricone
Go Sanction Yourself
CD / DL
Out Now
Huddersfield’s finest DIY Art-Pop crooner Paul Morricone has delivered a third album that immediately strikes as a formidable piece of work and is a sure fast rumination on these mad and disjointed times, says guest reviewer Andy Kidd.
The Scaramanga Six man, notable for his arthouse leanings and twisted textures has produced an LP that surges forward and simultaneously moves at right angles declaring itself as a thoroughbred off-the-wall slab of audio gold. Go Sanction Yourself engulfs the listener in drama and intrigue and has the listener acknowledging Morricone’s frustration and disharmony with the world around us.
The album, which follows 2019’s The Dissolving Man and 2020’s Cruel Designs, immediately engulfs the listener with a concoction of electronic beats, crooning vocals and a glut of post-war bebop thrills. Smoke and colour fills the void as the record comes at you in a rush.
Cheeky opener, wryly entitled ‘I’ve Got You in the Palm of my Hand’ is full of cinematic character as it takes you on a mood trip. God damn , it even includes a Timpani solo, another highlight of this record’s special charisma.
The record moves between a free and soulful mix of orchestration, to dance and wonky rock! None-the-less, the album’s stylistic swing is from start-to-finish pinned down to the ground with beats straight outa triphop, and the vocal delivery is hung on a smooth baritone ranging from a place harbouring the spirit of Scott Walker and Tony Bennett.
Musicality aside, Go Sanction Yourself is perhaps Morricone’s most political work of recent years and the second track ‘Laughing at You’ doesn’t leave many guessing as it dismantles, via a heady course of funk minimalism, those chosen Eton types who have wreaked havoc on this once great nation, and mores to the point here, the Morricone hinterlands of Dewsbury and Keighly!
Hard driven electronic beats, and activism alone, though, doesn’t make a great album! There must be an abundance of bangers too, or real songs that twist to the core, and Morricone shows no hesitation in using his powerful tones to do just this – listen to the tear-jerking ‘Are We Having A Moment?’, every bit as dramatic as post-divorce era ABBA, or ‘Peabody’, a Scott-esque kitchen sink mini-epic with just a hint of The Divine Comedy’s upbeat comedic sheen.
It gets better, the killer chorus and modern MOR/Jazz Standard sax solo on the mysterious but masterful ‘Goodnight Jamie’ , fully realises the winning appeal and genuine talent of what lies at the centre of this LP. The chorus here is exquisitely backed up by Crass sister Carol Hodge ensuring this song is an album showstopper and you just know that in a better world, or even dare we say it, a time gone by this would be a hit single for the best part of everyone’s miserable lifetime.
Whilst Paul Morricone is still very much the DIY art-rocker with full alt credentials , he has created something pretty much next level here, whether it be found circulating the tiny speakers of a hotel elevator, or crackling through the ether via taxi car wireless or late night TV, or even synchronised to an arthouse cinema flick, it rejoices in a unique richness which in turn carries this record to the stars defiant. An instant underground classic!
Buy from Bandcamp
Words by Andy Kidd.
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