TALON'S – songs for babes
(CD, own)
If I told you that this is a concept album all about
girls, with each of the dozen songs dedicated to one girl, produced by a guy
in his lonely room with his acoustic guitar and a laptop over the weeks
before and after new year’s eve 2007 / 2008, you might get the completely
wrong impression of a nerd and his unfulfilled dreams and fantasies and a
lot of repressed sexuality. If it were so, then it wouldn’t be on own
records (but on that major label that releases Weezer – but that is a completely different
story, I think). But yes, the basics are true, but Talon is more a dreamer,
a romantic and an introspective and I would see his roots rather in Nick
Drake’s legacy than anything else. He seems to have his head in the
clouds, surround himself with helpful machinery to put his dreams to words
and sounds. And after all, twelve girls to fall in love with for real is a
lot more than the rest of us ever are ready to put up with. There has to be
something special about this guy.
The music is introverted, soft, slow and low, and seems
intent to withdraw itself right back into the speakers of your stereo.
Talon’s singing style goes along with this. During “Juice” (is there
really a girl named “Juice”? Seems as strange to me as that tattoo on
the lower back of a girl that I saw a foto of that read “my name is
Kelly”??) his singing reminds me a little of Bonnie Prince
Billy in its wavering insecurity and soft high pitch. Some of his
songs are nothing more than short memories that culminate in a repetition of
the girl’s name and then just fade away (like “Angela” or “Mich”)
and some are almost or even instrumentals. When he starts with picking and a
little band, these are the moments he is the closest to Nick Drake – and
who doesn’t fall for the melancholy and genius of Nick Drake? Even a spark
of that would make any song great. Talon introduces electronics sparsely and
with measure, but at times they are the most discernible part of the songs.
Especially when it is field recordings of police sirens or the sound of a
car leaving. All of this makes the whole album a good listen on a rainy
Sunday noon even when you don’t care about the concept of the songs.
