Cosmo Jarvis – Is The World Strange Or Am I Strange
Cosmo Jarvis – Is the World Strange or am I Strange?
8/10
Cosmo Jarvis poses a question with the title of his sophomore album, and by the time I had listened through I was left thinking that both the latter and former were the case. This is a real mish mash of styles, from ‘Gay Pirates’ with its Adam and The Ants meets Mumford and Sons personality, which though it should sound terrible by that description ends up working rather well. Cosmo has always struck me as complex individual – obviously extremely talented – and it’s possible that talent might be a detriment to the record, as there are times when the experimentation becomes tiresome.
However, when taking us through the folk-influenced start of this album, it all flows rather nicely, culminating in the excellent ‘Blame it On Me’. The title track sees the album slip into a Mike Skinner doing Syd Barrett vibe, and funnily enough it’s my favourite track on the album (though I’m not sure what that says about my mental state). Where he starts to lose my attention is on the irksome ‘Dave’s House’, which seems as though it doesn’t belong on the record at all. Put that to the side, and the record picks up again with the minimalist ‘Let Me Out Of My Head’ (I’m sure Cosmo must be a fan of the aforementioned Barrett after listening).
Springing forward to ‘The Wave That Made Them Happy’, I begin to understand why the likes of Brian Eno and Stephen Fry have sung his praises. The last two tracks on the album make you wonder if someone has hijacked the record, though I particularly enjoyed the post-punk feel of ‘My Day’, which lyrically seems a pop at people of my generation, and to be fair Cosmo pretty much gets it spot on. Despite my annoyance with the inconsistency, this is an album that has drawn me back to it time and time again over the last few weeks. I kind of get the impression that Cosmo would feel it mission accomplished if this record makes you charmed and uncomfortable in equal measure.
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14th September // The Musician, Leicester
15th September // Rainbow, Birmingham
16th September // Fibbers, York
17th September // King Tut’s, Glasgow
19th September // The Bowery, London (Album Release Party)
20th September // The Cavern Club, Exeter
21st September // The Fleece, Bristol
22nd September // Mr Kyp’s, Poole
23rd September // The Green Door Store, Brighton
24th September // The Borderline, London
26th September // Bodega Social Club, Nottingham
27th September // Night and Day, Manchester
28th September // Watershed, Milton Keynes
29th September // Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
30th September // Casbah, Coventry
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