Trip - ShortCuts [Album]

May 5, 2009, 04:20 PM

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There is a lot of hype surrounding Alex Child AKA Trip. Music-News.com states that the album is….. “a great piece of individual modern poetry”. Based in London, 24 year old Alex Child has created an album that is a “tragic-comic kaleidoscope of city life as seen through the eyes of a 24 year old Londoner”. A glance at his myspace page, shows that Trip has a very wide range of influences….anywhere from Bob Dylan to Rage Against the Machine and from The Arctic Monkeys to Barbara Streisand!!!

He has been dubbed the indie/rock version of The Streets, whose storytelling abilities, coupled with his undoubted lyrical talent, make for a high energy and amusing listen. We also see from his gig guide that Trip is much in demand as a live performer and in fairness I am sure that he has already garnered a bit of a following.

The album, ShortCuts is short, with none of the 11 tracks breaking the 4 minute barrier. They are all radio friendly and produced very ably, not a surprise when we find that the creation of the album was done under the watchful eye of two established producers/musicians in their own right, James Rushet of Does it Offend You Yeah?, and Lance Thomas from Ladytron. These two producers enlighten us to the mixture of all out indie rock with a hint of electronic sensibilities thrown in for good measure. The album is choc full of indie-rock numbers with Streets-esque rapping/storytelling over the top. This does wear thin over the course of ShortCuts, but it is Childs’ exceptional storytelling that holds the album together. Trip certainly has an eye, and an ear for social and moral tales of life in a capital city.

Track Three "Laundromat" is a lovely, high energy ride about a girl that “only had a smile on, when she had an orgasm” and how she got off on a washing machine. Standard young adult stuff, yes, but Laundromat also contains such lyrical gems as “Katy felt as horny as a Unicorn….”. The middle of the album ventures back into indie-rap territory and there is nothing that stands out in any major way. In fairness though as with any rap, it is usually after a few listens that the true story sinks in from each song, and rock and indie fans will be eager to reach deeper into Trips lyrical vaults.

As I said, all the songs on the album are very radio friendly, none that contain too many explicit lyrics or talk of any out there themes such as Murder, Gun/Knife Crime, Prostitution, Drugs etc, and this leads me to think that Trip may have led quite a sheltered life. In Track 5 "Break the Jukebox", Alex Child even sounds like a male Kelly Clarkson!

It would be really interesting if Trip was to meet a dirty beat maker/producer that could infuse his sometimes comical lyrics with some rough edged grime and rattle, but then the radio friendliness of it all would probably disappear, much to Chrysalis Music Publishing’s disappointment I am sure.

Track 8 "Breathe" is probably the only other stand out song on ShortCuts, it has a really nice groove throughout, coupled with a nice synthetic led noise breakdown that I am sure came straight from the Ladytron guy. It must also be mentioned that the album will also be released with a full length video that was filmed over a constant 24 hour period with a camera crew filming Alex Child wherever he went, I assume while singing the songs…..very Big Brother esque. Oh and yes he does look a bit like Eminem as well, only a not so rude, probably not so funny, and a bit more leaning to the rock side of the music world version.

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