The Village, or Phil Matthews as he’s known down the pub, has been very good to me already this year. He has afforded me an early chance to listen to Everything Turns To Dust, his new album with musical partner, Mark Pearson, trading as Prime Minister. I very much enjoyed their debut album, 10, (https://folking.com/prime-minister-10-digital-release/ if you missed it) and their follow-up follows the same pattern – clever lyrics with a point to make and a timeless sound. Some of the album could have come from the 60s or 70s although the production is undoubtedly better these days.
We begin with the guitar-heavy ‘Hi-Viz Liz’, a song no doubt inspired by the sight of a bright yellow cyclist. She takes things to extremes though and thoughts drift to those staged photo-ops of politicians visiting factories or whatever. Prime Minister’s songs have that effect. Wha-wha pedal decorates ‘Do Robots Ever Lie?’ questioning electronic data storage and, by extension, the vexed problem of AI.
By chance, ‘Big Man Up Top’ was the first track I listened to and before I started it I wondered what it referred to. Religion? Politics? No, football, conjuring up visions of a local, lower division match on a filthy, wet Saturday afternoon. Just a little slice of life. ‘I Met Brian Eno On The Underground’ could be a joke but it’s perfectly series and, presumably, a true story. The message is that it can be OK to meet your heroes – if you’ve done it you know that they’re just people, too. ‘Rough’ begins with a deceptive waltz then slips into a sort of ragtime – lots of clever instrumental work – and I’ll figure the song out soon.
‘Trippy Trevor’ is the story of a singer/guitarist in a psychedelic indie band, an arrangement with hints of country that seems to sample bits of ‘Ghost Riders In The Sky’ or maybe that’s just me. I confess that I’m perplexed by ‘Frozen Ashes’ – nice lead guitar, though – but I do like the appallingly punny ‘My Life As A Biscuit Jar’. ‘Cloudy Blues’ is a plea for some sunshine, a jolly little song which leads us to the closing title track – a real downer. The repeated lyric is simply “everything turns to dust in the end”, which is undoubtedly true but it’s something that most of us try not to think about.
Everything Turns To Dust is another fine album from Phil and Mark. In many ways it’s lighter than 10 but that’s not to detract from it in any way. There are songs you’ll want to go back to and listen again.
Dai Jeffries
Artists’ website: https://www.thevillage.me.uk/about-4
‘Big Man Up Top’:
Thanks for stopping by. Please help us continue and support us by tipping/donating to folking.com via
You must be logged in to post a comment.