Black and White Boy – The Avenue

Carefully looking to strike a balance between making music recognisably your own and not falling into a repetitive rut must be the curse of the musician, but Andrew Nicol - aka Black and White Boy - is still on that high wire and moving incrementally forward.

With his talents as a songwriter it could very well be an easy transition from doing what he wants to, to doing what the public apparently wants, but it’s to his credit that he refuses to write material by numbers and instead remains true to his melancholic heart.

On this outing there are still the strains of his Finn Brothers influences serving as a foundation, but with the addition of some Springsteen-esque flourishes the songs, while still not moving into party anthem territory, have a certain shading to them that brings in some lighter moments that contrasts well with the lyrical content.

It’s very mature fare and written to appeal to a more contemplative audience.

That being the case there is the possibility that some may miss out on the magic that lies therein if they are looking for a quick hit as it’s not a body of material that is looking to grab at the listener, but instead it’s more about forming a relationship with them.

Easing in and taking root and ultimately settling in for the long haul is probably how it could best be described.

It’s certainly difficult to commit to saying whether this is a brave or foolish approach in an era that seems keen to simply be guided towards a more consumerist take on music.

Undoubtedly much of what is on offer in the mainstream is largely deliberately disposable, but I for one will tip my hat to anyone who considers tilting at windmills as a worthy pursuit.

In short some things are really worth the effort of taking the time to explore and in this instance I would recommend that you set aside the time to get your head wrapped around ‘The Avenue.’

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Black and White Boy - Fragile

As the last track slips into silence it begs the question why 'Black and White Boy' doesn't have his name liberally dropped into conversations about what is hot in the current music scene.

Of course the music business is all very hit and miss.

Labels literally gamble on acts.

Will they sell? (Always the bottom line).

Will we get a return on our investment?

Yet is seems obvious – well to me anyway – that with 'Fragile' we have an album that with the promotional budgets that the big boys have could sell massively.

It's a body of work that quite simply never once drops the ball.

I sat in the dark with headphones on and it felt like the music and lyrics snipped the thread that anchored me to the earth.

Gravity cancelled, and the weight of the detritus of life sluiced away leaving me weightless.

From about three songs in I was adrift and it felt good.

Sort of dreamlike in how all earthly constraints had let go.

How often can anyone say that about an album?

That instead of the music becoming a soundtrack to the background of what is going on, that instead life becomes the backdrop to the actual album.

Fragile is the perfect title when considered in the context of the lyrics, but when the release is taken as a whole I just get the strength of it all washing over me.

It has an enveloping warm embrace that holds you safely still and silent as it carries you towards the final track.

It's simply beautiful, a real, very real, emotional tour de force that eases rather effortlessly to that point where you listen to it all and it means something to you.

I suspect that very often that is exactly what artists want to do, to talk to us, to communicate personally on a one to one level and make every utterance something that we can feel a kinship to, and with Fragile that has been achieved.

http://blackandwhiteboy.bandcamp.com/album/fragile