Search - No Man :: Flowermouth

Gorgeous power pop with seriously annoying vocals

Richard Lewington | Fremont, CA | 08/26/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"For Porcupine Tree fans:

Move along, nothing to see here. This is not a Porcupine Tree album by a different name. Get one track: "things change," if you must.



For everyone else:

Glossy power pop, beautifully recorded. Mike and the Mechanics would be proud of this. (That's not intended as a criticism.)

The loss of two stars comes from the affected, breathy vocals. They get seriously annoying after a couple of tracks.



Steven, if you're listening, how about an instrumental version, or one with you singing? That would be much better."

NICE, BUT NOT GREAT

OK Guy | Chicago | 01/18/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Three and a half stars, actually.

High expectations are a dangerous thing. I ordered this CD with very high ones after buying (and liking a lot) several Steven Wilson-related CDs, Porcupine Tree is in my top five, Blackfield is very nice artsy pop music, so what did I have to lose. Honestly, I do like the album, it does remind me -in addition of those influences already mentioned- of early Tears for Fears and late Talk Talk. In my opinion the vocals are too even, too "the same", and that's what takes away the most from the album.

I found the bonus material a bit boring, meandering and pointless. Something for the fans only.



Overall the album is good, gives you a hint of much better and greater things to come from Wilson."

Music's good...but singer takes getting used to and lyrics n

JediSushiChef | Western U.S. | 11/17/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Like many of you probably reading this, I'm an ardent Porcupine Tree fan owning most of their CDs, and I decided to take a dive into some of the Wilson's other projects. I wanted to try out No-Man, so based on the reviews I'd read, this disc Flowermouth seemed to be a good starting point.



The music here is decent and has SW's fingerprints all over it...but the singing, lyrics, and song titles -- while they can be really, really annoying for some -- as they were at first for me -- the guy actually rubbed off on me after awhile.



At first he came across as if he'd been kicked off the bus on the elevator music tour, like a very horrible attempt as a Brian Ferry ripoff. I didn't get the breathy vocal thing because it sounded totally forced. However, after a few listens, I actually started liking him.



However, that doesn't save the lyrics, which seem downright unimaginative and stupid at times...at times they sound like something I personally would have penned in middle school if my 12 yr old brain had been "forced to write some artful lyrics" for the first time by a music teacher. Not kidding...that's what came to mind.



After merely two listens, I can pick out two solid examples of songs that annoy me to this effect; "Animal Ghost" and "Simple." Animal Ghost? Have we been watching too much Pet Cemetery or something? And what's with the breathy repeated line: "It's so simple?" Well, fine then...WHAT is so simple? We never really do find out...explanation, please...can we show a little more creativity than putting out this half-baked quiche pie that's running all over my plate? And what about "...and the love in your mouth." When has anyone ever had love in their mouth, unless we're getting really down and dirty?



I realize I've ripped this album pretty bad. The talent's there, but for curious PT fans, if you want to expand into Wilson's other work, throw your hard-earned cash at Blackfield instead. I believe this CD is not the best entry point to check out No-Man -- I'd suggest going with the 'All the Blue Changes' best-of compilation or even the 'Mixtaped' DVD, which includes a band documentary -- IMO a much, much better places to start."