Paul Smith & Peter Brewis - 'Frozen By Sight'

The new collaboration between Paul Smith (Maximo Park) and Peter Brewis (Field Music) is now out, an album called 'Frozen By Sight'. I pre-ordered the album (obv).

Maximo Park were destined to have me as a fan when I heard the energy and life of their first album and a lot of that is down to Paul's voice and lyrics. I've bought every album since and seen them play live lots.  I'd never heard the term 'A4 print-out' in a pop song until I listened to the Maximos. So, my interest in this album is largely around the words and Paul's voice than Peter's chamber inspired music but it's definitely growing.

This album is as far away from the Maximos as you can get and is far closer to Paul's solo album from four years ago, 'Margins'. Some emphatic percussion and sometimes swirling and sometimes strident strings add the background to Paul's words and then come to the fore to take control of the song. It's different but really works well.

The songs are based on Paul's travels around the world with songs like 'LA Street Cleaner', 'Exiting Hyde Park Towers' and 'Barcelona (At Eye Level)'. With some of the songs it's the observed detail in the words that brings the joy. It's almost like moving from the detail in a Burne-Jones painting to the broad brush of a Monet water lilies painting.

This isn't music to listen to on the tube in the morning going to work but will bring many happy hours listening to it in the evening, relaxing, and finding something new in each song with every listen. Thanks lads!