To no doubt a smaller group of people than he’d like Andy Crofts will be a very familiar name. Having formed The Moons in the mid-noughties, they’re against the tone retro style won them admirers and attracted Edwyn Collins to produce their second album, 2012’s Fables of History.
Fate was conspiring though to change their frontman’s life, as a few years after the two had first met and struck up a musical friendship, Crofts was invited to become part of Paul Weller’s touring set up, a role which eventually led to him playing on Wake Up The Nation, A Kind Revolution and Fat Pop (Volume 1).
Written in his Sussex beach hut – where he also paints and enjoys photography – Melody Boy is the first step of a solo career it could be argued is long overdue. Perhaps fitting a seaside aesthetic, the vibe is retro without being kitsch, end-of-the-pier romantic and indebted at least in part to Ray Davies and Lee Hazlewood. Similar – but nowhere near as crooner oriented – in design to Richard Hawley’s Coles Corner, On the Beach, Don’t Think and Meet Again are all pier-friendly enough, but it’s the finger poppin’ opener Blue that steals the show. Melody Boy might mean that the in the know club is a little less exclusive from now on.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 