It took me a while (a good while) to get my head around this album. You know how they always say that music bloggers (not that I see myself as one) usually just rip off the press pack while reviewing the album? Well, I read the press pack months after sinking my teeth into ‘Miles Of Mad Water’ and I have to agree – it does what it says on the tin. I could pinpoint the exact same influences as the ones mentioned by Shoes and Socks Off’s PR company. What I needed time for was to make up my mind whether the fact that they are so obvious is a good or a bad thing. I think I know now.
The album opens with ‘And No One’s Seen Him Since’ and straight away sets a melancholic mood that SASO’s listeners should be well used to. It also proudly shows off Radiohead influences (it somehow smells of ‘In Rainbows’ to me, which is not a bad thing). I absolutely love the grungy transition to ‘Made’, very much following the moody blues tone. ‘Numb Nums’ is haunting with broken harmonies and rusty guitar echoing in the background. ‘Tork Sport’ has a very Thom York-y solo feel to it. Every single song is simply good. And what makes the whole album stand out is the electronica that Toby Hayes, the man behind the project, started to experiment with.
Hayes’ songwriting skills speak for themselves – the album as a whole sounds absolutely brilliant and I wouldn’t be able to point the odd one out. The influences, however obvious, make him a truly and proudly post-modern artist – SASO is very much a DIY project and there’s no shame in admitting there’s the whole of music history to get inspiration from and we’d be fooling ourselves if we suddenly tried to claim we’re all so original.
What he does however is absolutely brilliant, as he leaves his inspirations in the melody layer of the song, putting his individual electronic twist on every single one of them. What’s more, his very personal songwriting invites the listener to his wide open heart. The mix of quite popular ideas and intimate lyrics is extremely clever – the melodies simply stay with you and keep popping up every now and again, completely out of the blue, bringing you back to the album and back into his own private world. It makes the whole album feel already familiar, yet fresh and innovative – a very interesting combination.
Ironically enough, Hayes decided to end the Shoes and Socks Off as a project. In his tumblr post he writes: ‘The restrictions I place on it, and the fact that pretty much all the songs are about one very personal subject, make it’s functioning depend too heavily on me maintaining a certain level of ‘mope’, and in all honesty I don’t have the stones to maintain said mope any longer.’
The irony is probably the fact that it seems to me like his songs about ‘one very personal subject’ hit my spot and my introduction to the album came at the worst time, when I’ve been dealing with a similar mope myself. It took me exactly the time to get rid of the mope to sit down, look at the album with reviewer’s eyes and write it all down. Which means one really good thing – it resonates. On more levels than one – I can relate to his mope, I definitely share all his musical illuminations. After listening to his previous albums (the 4-year project resulted in 4 full length albums, however the previous three can be filed under ‘intimate acoustic blues’), ‘Miles Of Mad Water’ is Hayes’ most accomplished work to date. Come to think of it – like with many things in life, sometimes it’s best to end something on a high note and move on to bigger and better things with a clear mind. Shoes and Socks Off will play a few gigs in September before disappearing for good. However Hayes already announced a few projects he’s got his hands in – watch this space.
Out now on Big Scary Monsters.
Posted by Magda Wrzeszcz.
