If being written on the back of old tube tickets, boarding cards and newspapers found abandoned in railway stations, means Chris Singleton’s ‘Twisted City’ is a concept album, then I have the perfect justification for talking shit; I prepare much of what I say whilst idling on the lavatory in the morning.
Allegedly this is a record that was conceived as a tube journey through London with each song a stop on the line and each of the songs dealing with a different ‘place’, whether a London location or an experience. And true enough there’s ‘mind the step’ announcements, songs about drunks (‘Get Up’), songs about pests, (‘Stop Following’) and ‘angry’ laments about ‘twisted’ cities (‘Twisted City’). But if we were going to be honest, this could be just as true of any rock record in the last thirty-years. Most rock songs are about journeys. That’s why they make great driving records (with the exception of the Travelling Wilburys, naturally, who just sound like they make great driving records but actually make very dull ones).
Influenced by classic acts such as Bowie, The Beatles, The Who and Pink Floyd, Dublin’s Chris Singleton doesn’t do a bad job of approximating his heroes, but for all its crunchy guitars, its dirty drum samples and its barnstorming bass runs, it comes across as a bit of a road to nowhere. The songs and the production are engaging enough, there’s no quibbles there (even if they don’t entirely match) its just that Singleton is so palpably in awe of the whole recording process, that he forgets to pack the one thing that would make his journey unique: himself. The result is an album comes across rather like the girlie kid-brother of The Jam’s ‘All Mod Cons’ and ‘Snap!’ or the Dirty Pretty Things’ ‘Waterloo To Anywhere’.
Chirpy, innocent and crammed with lovely intent, but lacking the balls and the energy to deliver.