Play 90 second soundbite of 'Beaten Black And Blue' @ 'CD quality'
'See Thru Songs' is an album packed full of typically British pop charm, a quirky but stylish, funtime work that's like a cross-over between Difford/Tillbrook, Kevin Ayers and Robert Wyatt - the classic observational pop writing of the former pairing, the sparkling light-rock individuality of the inbetweeny and the uniqueness and vocal acrobatics of the latter. Quite a combination, quite a blend, quite a strangely-strange but oddly-normal coming together! Hey, it works though!
Milligan aka Penguin Party makes smart pop music; his writing is naively intelligent (if that makes sense) and his scores are beautifully and sensitively crafted to colour the poetic lyrics, to emphasise, to adorn and enhance rather than clutter or choke down on the refreshingly individualistic but mature words. Milligan tends to keep it all quite low-key preferring light jangly guitars, expressive keys and militaristic percussive beats to add just the right amount of clever playfulness and hookiness to the mix. Left-field pop maybe but certainly on the brighter side of the odd-ball fence; that's 'brighter' as in somewhat more joyous rather than totally uplifting cuz Penguin Party's music aint actually cheery and all bright whistles and bells, oh no, it can be thought provoking and evocative as much as it can be childlike and coy.
'See Thru Songs' by Penguin Party is a strange but nicely rewarding album; it's well conceived, superbly written and beautifully performed and Milligan certainly puts a bit of fun back into the pop world - well, at least this album puts a smile on yer face purely for its quirkiness if nothing else!! Quite whether 'See Thru Songs' has the ability to be a true hit I'm not at all sure - perhaps Penguin Party will prove to be just too clever for the fickle record buying public, perhaps 'See Thru Songs' will be just too individualistic and too 'grown up' to be a hit - perhaps Penguin Party is destined to remain a cult act and 'See Thru Songs' an 'underground' album. Who knows, Penguin Party sure is an interesting concept/project and 'See Thru Songs' is an enjoyable and fascinating work; pop for pop's sake, good, old fashioned, honest-to-goodness, simplistic pop music, no frills, no big statements, no excuses, and really no surprises - just beautifully crafted, melodic songs that err on the gentler and cosseting side of the pop spectrum.
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