He’s got an acoustic. And he’s got a synth. What’s a boy to do? Well…
[Video][Myspace]
[5.25]
M. H. Lo: Perhaps mindful that his status as Scrawny One-Man Electronic Act is being threatened by Sam Sparro Frankmusik, Calvin stomps back with a number that harkens back to 90s euphoric trance. Judged against those standards, “I’m Not Alone” doesn’t boast an especially memorable riff; for crissakes, it isn’t even played on pizzicato strings. What the riff does do, intriguingly, is help complexify the song, which, despite its sound, describes someone tired of the club scene (“Can you stay up for the weekend till next year? God I can’t do this anymore”). He sees a “light flashing” and “a man waving,” whereupon the riff hits – but it is thus ambiguous whether it represents our singer dying and seeing God, or if a mere fellow clubber with a glowstick pulls him back into the orbit of the scene.
[6]
Martin Skidmore: I don’t mind the music – a bit plinky when we don’t get the trancey synth stabs, which sound a decade out of date and rather simpleminded – but the singing completely ruins it for me, weak and wimpy, tuneless and characterless.
[2]
Edward Okulicz: Good trance pastiches should, in theory, have the catchy tunes of the genre they’re pillaging. Why can’t he ruin a genre of music I don’t like for once?
[1]
Ian Mathers: I was actually well glad when the stadium synths kicked in, as before that this sounded like an office party Antony imitation. On subsequent listens, that more subdued opening actually works, but really the track kicks in once Harris’ callow voice has something big and buzzy to contrast with. And really, I am a sucker for big, brash synth pop sung by shy nerds.
[7]
Martin Kavka: This sounds like a remix of Vashti Bunyan or some other ’60s British folkie. You might think that this kind of genre-bending exercise is doomed to fail. But it works incredibly well because no one genre gets to win; the dance beats work against the depressed lyric. Years from now, this will be seen as the expression of 2009 recession culture, which desperately wants to slow down but just can’t.
[9]
Doug Robertson: Well, Calvin’s always been a little bit backwards looking, but this would struggle to be acceptable in the eighties or even the mid nineties, let alone the present day. At best it sounds like Bloc Party making a decent stab at getting themselves airplay on Dave Pearce’s Dance Anthems, while at worst it sounds like someone who’s suddenly found himself in the limelight and isn’t quite sure what to do now they’ve got there.
[4]
Additional Scores
Keane Tzong: [8]
Alex Wisgard: [5]