bright penny - 8/10 americana UK

A soft pillow of pop-soul from Chicago uber-band


Pop-soul is quite justifiably a swear word when there are so many protagonists who ply their shady wares under that broad moniker. However, what proudly elevates ‘Bright Penny!’ several leagues above is that the soul it draws from is of the mid 70s vintage Chicago variety. Positively dripping with seductive horns, keys, genuine soul rhythms and arrangements (which can be exceedingly Bacharach inspired on occasions) and a ton of good tunes performed with not a little feeling.

What’s more, it sports something of a jaw-dropping line up featuring as it does a ‘whose who’ of Chicago’s musical legend. Featuring as it does, not only Stirrat and Sansome of Wilco/Autum Defence, but Curtis Mayfield’s drummer from his ‘Superfly’ prime period (Morris Jennings), Jackie Wilson’s Bassist (Bernard Reed) and Tom Tom MMLXXIV, the long-standing horn arranger for Earth Wind and Fire and The Jacksons amongst others.

After the critical success of Plush’s debut album ‘Fed’, Liam Hayes takes centre stage as the band’s songwriter and vocalist. He doesn’t have a natural ‘soul’ voice. It’s a gentle croon that occasionally strays in falsetto and seems in part Scissor Sisters and a little hint of Bowie’s ‘plastic soul’ vocal cadences.

Whilst it seems best to let the lushly textured swaying grooves of the
entire album’s song cycle wash over and around you like a jasmine scented summer breeze in one blissful sitting, some moments do stand out. ‘If I Could’s laconic sway, twisting and turning melodies and mournful reflection are a joy. Elsewhere ‘Look Up, Look Down’ sounds like a McCartney song that Al Green could have turned into a seductive funk classic.

These are pop songs to close your eyes to, and feel

americana uk

patrick cleandenim - city lights

taken from orange moonbeam floorshow

Andrew Morgan - As Long As We're Together (download) EP

01. As Long As We're Together
02. Who Ever Knew
03. Always in Dreams
04. Minji Lee
05. A Matter of Months
06. As Mine
07. As Long As We're Together (Reprise)
08. Quite a Pair

Gideon Coe has already played the title track three times on his BBC 6 Music show

available now from itunes and andrew's website

some reviews:

suitcase orchestra
soundsxp.com
whisperinahollorin
losing today
the daily melt

so much music

Liam Hayes and Plush recorded live at the King's Head, Crouch End, London on Friday October 16th.

Left: Mr Jimmy Rowland - Fender Rhodes electric piano and Moog bass keyboard
Right: Liam Hayes - Wurlitzer electric piano

Thanks to Harvey Williams for posting the clip.

liam hayes in esquire

As one of the guest editors in this months Esquire, Nick Hornby suggested a profile of Liam Hayes.

patrick cleandenim to play cmj

Patrick will be performing with his new live band at this year's CMJ in New York. They will play at South Street Seaport on October 23rd 8pm.

white telescope on you tube

patrick cleandenim - orange moonbeam floorshow - uncut and artrocker reviews

bright penny in the irish times

"The more you listen to Bright Penny, the more you sigh. For his latest turn, Liam Hayes (a singer- songwriter who is the very definition of enigmatic) has produced an album of beautifully heartfelt pop and soul. The chances of the world at large copping on to this? Zilch, zero, nada. Despite his peerless talents and spectacular voice, sporadic releases mean that Hayes remains a cult attraction. Here, on an album recorded in Chicago with musicians who played with Curtis Mayfield, Brian Wilson, Jackie Wilson, The Jacksons, Wilco and others, Hayes weaves the sort of effortlessly rapturous and dramatic sounds only a true pop visionary could conjure up. Look Up, Look Down and We Made It see him swooping and swooning away to his heart’s content. He claims on So Much Music that music almost drove him crazy; if so, this is the kind of starry-eyed madness everyone should experience. "

JIM CARROLL - The Irish Times

boomkat on bright penny

"Formerly known merely as Plush, Liam Hayes returns with his own name emblazoned across the sleeve of his new album, and as with Bright Penny's widely lauded predecessor, Fed, here's an album that's singularly out of step with its time. Far away from the modern predilection for all things lo-fi and what Psychedlic Horseshit wryly brand "shit-gaze", Bright Penny embraces lavish '70s easy listening-style arrangements, full of horns, multi-layered backing vocals, creamy basslines and an overall feeling of old-fashioned values resurrected without irony or cynicism. Although for some listeners the likes of 'So Much Music' might come a little too close to the bellbottom-wearing sub-Bacharach hit parade fillers of thirty years ago, there's plenty of evidence here to support the case that Hayes is something of a genius in the field of MOR (if such a thing is possible): the straight-faced, swinging pop magnificence of 'White Telescope' reveals a true studio craftsman at work."

boomkat

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