MOJO Bar - Music for the people

Releasing an album under his own name for the first time, Steve mason was formerly front man with 90’s groundbreakers The beta Band who garnered critical acclaim and a host of celebrity fans before disintegrating under first the weight of Masons depression and fellow member Gordon Andersons drug induced psychosis. Not by the sounds of it a fun place to be. Previous solo outings came under the names King Biscuit Time and latterly, Black Affair.

Black Affair could accurately describe the content of Boys outside. Masons mental state is mined throughout  for lyrics such as, Am I Just A Mans ‘And there’s a darkness that persists through all of this, and though I try to keep a light on it exists’. Those looking for an instant Beta Band fix will be perhaps disappointed. The production is by Richard X, more usually associated with the likes of The Sugarbabes. It’s a sparse sound with clean pop beats and Masons bruised vocals pushed front and centre where as before they would be buried in The Beta Band’s pastoral, hip hop soup.

It’s a good, good album. Interesting if not always enjoyable as Mason lays himself bare. This is soul music of the darkest kind.

7/10

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 8:10 pm and is filed under Album, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.