It’s a brave artist who calls a single Failure, though the full title of this single is Failure (after a lame night dying on stage), but L.A. Salami (Lookman Adekunle Salami) has done just that, it’s a breezy country-tinged but up-tempo pop song with a Sondre Lerche-like feel, all jazzy guitars, arch vocals and woozy harmonica. It’s an undoubtedly and unashamedly fun little song, buoyed by Salami’s more cynical lyrics delivered in a dry tone which makes the repeated mantra of ‘Oh, I’d like to see them call you a failure then’ that much more uplifting.
Meanwhile Derrick Bird vs The World is an alt-country ballad about the 2010 shootings in Cumbria, it’s quite nice to hear a musician tackling something quite as topical as this, but beyond recounting the details of Bird’s spree and suggesting ‘And it could have been you’ there’s not much substance to the song, whereas even traditional murder ballads would offer up a little meat alongside the potatoes. It’s a peculiar, jaunty tune, finely performed but a tad vanilla.
Two intriguing tunes from this London-based singer-songwriter, that definitely suggest he’s a talent to keep your ears on.
[Rating:3]
