| Download Review - The Naira Project - The Kobo Sessions |
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Monday, 01 December 2008 |
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| Review by JD |
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It seems to me that one of the main topics of discussions on music forums of late is that the net has devalued music. Even Simon Le Bon has come out and asked why people are willing to pay (touts) upwards of £200 for a ticket to a gig, and yet begrudge paying a tenner for an album. There’s the argument that as music is now so readily available that people are less willing to pay for it (or pay a reasonable price), that the ubiquitous (iniquitous?) Myspace is actually killing music as we know it, that the internet is deriving people of the pleasure of opening a CD/Vinyl album and drooling over the cover, that bands are whoring worthless, crap music by building up a network of “friends”. Personally, as much as I like well presented CDs, its not why I buy CDs, I buy them because of the music and anyone that claims the packaging is more important than the music is seriously deranged. I also agree, there is some absolute rubbish available on the net/Myspace. But there are also some absolute nuggets, by artists that perhaps would never have had the chance to do more than pass a tape round a few friends, purely because their work is not commercial enough for wider audiences. This doesn’t make their music worthless in any way; it’s just not so attractive to the masses. It is still good; it’s still very worthy of a listen and usually made by talented individuals/bands that have no desire to spend years promoting their music to an apathetic audience.
I imagine Steve Cowan (aka The Naira Project) is one such individual. Most people are well aware of Steve’s fecund creativity, his many projects, his ability to knock down people’s preconceptions by hopping from one genre to another. And usually with some panache. The Kobo Sessions is such an example. Taking on something of a more ambient, but pared down sound than on some other works, the three tracks on offer here are no less interesting than his other more complex material.
As the track titles suggest, the Kobo Sessions is a themed work and whilst the tracks stand on their own merits, they have a commonality that encourages the listener to regard all tracks as a whole rather than individual pieces. Their similarities link them to each other, but without making them appear a re-working of each other.
Desert Plains Part I is a prime example, built around a simple three note piano riff which provides an underlying theme on which is built a gorgeously atmospheric vocal melody. Never straying too far from the main riff, the tune is redolent of Robbie Roberston’s Red Road Ensemble period (or, in places, a less technically ostentatious Floyd). As always there is some lovely guitar work but not a heavy reliance on the six strings to build up the atmosphere.
The second track (Desert Plains Part II) is my least favourite, purely because I had to whack the volume up to 11 during the quiet interludes (something I found a little hackneyed). The guitar theme comes more to the fore on this track, but the mood seems to take a darker turn, helped by the layered vocals. Steve is a master at creating moods and atmosphere; he colours his works with intensity, whilst not flooding the different hues. I'm sure that he could write some excellent film scores, as this track conjures bleak images, dark barren wastelands awash with greyed out colours. Its odd to think of music in terms of the visual, but Steve manages to create music which works on more than one of the five senses. Some talent I would suggest.
The final part of the trilogy (yes, Desert Plains Part III) takes the guitar themes of part two and adds them to those raised in part one, entwining them into a lovely denouement, that you didn't realise you would have missed until you've heard it. Its a short piece but one which acts as something of a resume of what has gone before. Lovely!
One thing I would say, is that if any of the tracks suffer because of Steve’s desire to create and produce as a one man show, it’s because of his vocals. He is not the worlds greatest singer, but then his voice suits the atmospheric mood of the piece remarkably well, and having a vocalist could quite easily have detracted from the whole.
An altogether satisfying offering from The Naira Project, short, atmospheric and eminently listenable. And to return to my earlier point, if not for the Internet, I doubt I would have ever had the opportunity to have given these tracks a listen, let alone reviewed them. So my thanks to Vint Cerf, Tim Berners-Lee et al
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This page was last updated Thursday, 22 November 2007
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