Whilst the rest of the not entirely knowledgeable world either lauds or laments this quiet Aylesbury boy’s vigorous likeness to Messrs Buckley and Yorke, Crud would ever so quietly like to point out that Martin Grech has managed to produce a debut album of such jaw dropping quality that you could drive a bus right down it without even the threat of it touching the sides and dislodging your fillings. It’s also as bravely original as perhaps any of the references it deliberately (we assume) quotes. It’s not perfect. Far from it. It’s not unique. Far from it. But as a distillation of past and future genius – it performs well.
Heavier and rockier live (they said that about Owen Paul) and with dual nationality to boot (he’s half Maltese) this striking 19 year old with the insanely flickering eyeballs and the elongated hands has already made his mark on the armchair Britih public with that lugubrious, gothic anthem, ‘Open Heart Zoo’ which accompanied the Lexxus ad in recent months. Not bad for someone who was only last year down the youth club with his mates squashing ping pong balls against his forehead.
Whilst there’s no doubting the flailing vocal mannerisms of Buckley and the languid, fragile beauty of Yorke, there’s also the agony and the ecstasy of Muse, the gentle wooziness of Roger Waters and the heavy melancholia and primal edginess of Peter Gabriel. But if you’re looking for any obvious roots – forget it. The only real contemporary analogy might be Sigur Ros.
Self-written, guitared, piano’d and three years in the making, Grech’s debut album ‘Open Heart Zoo’ is a bit of celestial opus to be fair. Richly layered with mangling, involuntary guitars aplenty it’s a rare, precocious talent indeed. Having proved that he’s unafraid of the odd riff (as on ‘Here It Comes’ and ‘Dali’) Grech is able to flex himself effortlessly into ethereal mode: the lilting cradle song, ‘Tonight’, followed by the last goodbye of ‘Push’.
A great album. What else do you need to say?