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Album Review: Mike Bones - A Fool For Everyone

Is this album a piss take? A concept album that mocks our introspective navel gazing twattering, a soundtrack for Generation Me: The delusion and the grandeur. Or are these songs autobiographical and genuine? In this day and age, does it even matter?

I first caught Mike Bones on The Culture Show, after being dazzled by the glistening sheen of Mark Kermode's quiff; Bones performed 'What I Have Left', which admittedly at the time washed over me like a scum riddled North Sea wave. Lauren Laverne said he was some kind of guitar godlike genius. But since she often talks in platitudes, as evidenced by her appearance as a judge on reality crapfest Orange UnsignedAct I've come to believe that Laverne's words are not to be trusted.

'Today the World is Worthy of My Loathing' rousingly opens to a drizzle of jiggery pokery circa Marquee Moon. Bones' Prozac-laden drawl duels with fine guitar work. Actually, maybe Laverne had a point, the boy is good. 'One Moment's Peace' describes the downfall of a cocky lothario who hits the brick wall of reality, harshly discovering the meaning of humbleness. "I got off drugs, I swore off women / But still, I've been denied, one moment's peace."

'A Fool for Everyone' goes nowhere; it's the diesel guzzling Range Rover wheel spinning in a marshy field, a trotting mess that merges into New Year's Day violins. On a record like this the only violin we should be hearing is the world's smallest. Referred to as a 'New York Scenester' one of the good things about Bones is that he doesn't leave us stranded in his New York state of mind. Instead every grievance is aired rather bluntly, however the tone of the album remains very insular and because of Jones' droll vocal delivery the songs just aren't that endearing.

'Like a Politician' also trundles and thus a pattern beings, where we get dragged down in Bones' despondent lethargy; I think Bones can be accused of whining too much, this almost seems like too obvious a statement to utter, he makes Conor Oberst look a picture of contentment. It is a concern, because the share weight of bitterness and loathing makes the album quite humorous, wallowing in the Flight of the Conchords end of whimsy. I am almost certainly sure this is not what he intended.

The frustration explicit in Bones' lyrics is overdone, the curve ball he throws with 'What I have Left', three and a half minutes of near musical perfection tells us that he can get it right but despite splendid guitar work and insightful arrangements evident throughout the thirty five minutes of this album, he is unable to find any sort of balance, which makes A Fool for Everyone a boggy, lop sided listen. With this his second album, we can only hope he gets it right third time lucky.

A Fool For Everyone is a sprawl of broken hearted despair. Over nine songs the misery overflows like misanthropic puss from the saddest looking cyst you ever did see.

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