Bart Davenport - Physical World
Review:
Bart Davenport’s latest album, Physical World, has a song called “Fuck Fame.” Bart Davenport has never really gotten within distance of fame, but the songwriter spits at it with convincing disgust regardless: “Fame? What fame? I never wanted it, I never needed it/ Fame, what fame? I can be creative from behind the scenes.” The guitar tone is pure Joe Jackson, and it's likely the song itself is Davenport’s savvy imitation of a Joe Jackson bitter kiss-off to fame. On the chorus, though, the script switches slightly: Davenport leans into the punchline, “But we could talk about money,” harmonizing in a way that recalls Simply Red’s “Money’s Too Tight (To Mention).” It occurs to you: Hey, actually, maybe those guitars are more reminiscent of Simply Red’s jazzy synth chords, after all. Is that intentional?
The answer, from a scan of Bart Davenport’s discography, is an overwhelming “yes.” His catalog is a series of nested quotations brilliantly lifted and folded into power-pop confections that he's mastered, down to the lemon zest and sea-salt sprinkles on top. Listening to “Fuck Fame,” it's not even clear if we’re hearing Bart Davenport’s thoughts or just a roundup of “fuck fame” songs strung together like a Sudoku puzzle in three dimensions.
Davenport’s Physical World is a world of record sleeves, thumbed through masterfully. The album opens with “Wearing The Changes”, a fond and affectionate tribute to a woman who is “Wearing the changes well,” which is an elegant way to phrase aging gracefully. It’s a lion-in-winter flirtation, and the bittersweet green-apple tang of the guitar chords provide the wink and the proffered champagne glass, while Davenport slides in the clincher line: “Don’t stop doing whatever you’re doing something so right”. Again, you think: didn’t Daryl Hall say something like this?
This sense of constant, nagging nostalgia is kind of the point for songwriters like Davenport, who keenly understands his place in the wider universe. However, he plays too many games on Physical World to sustain a listener’s interest: he affects a British accent on “Dust in the Circuits,” although it’s less of a specific accent and more of an All-Purpose Morrissey. “Pamela” traces a chord progression distractingly similar to “Wearing the Changes”, but with twice the glucose.
What he lacks is a presence that feels definitely Bart Davenport, and after a while, it begins to feel like an album full of someone else’s songs—or, rather, anyone else’s songs. His best moments are breezy and autumnal, where a five'o'clock shadow of soulfulness shades the proceedings. “We rely on the physical world for love/ See me cry when invisible things still hurt,” he croons gently on the title track, and while the words are lovely, the melody is the focal point, coasting up and breezing down with a reassuring ease. “Keep it light and keep it loose,” he sings, and it's one of the album’s few telling lyrics. Davenport keeps it light, but too much so, and it doesn’t take much for the entire album to float gently from your notice.
Review By Jayson Greene
Rate 6.5/10
Track List:
1.Wearing the Changes 04:29
2.Fuck Fame 04:10
3.Dust in the Circuits 03:46
4.On Your Own Planet 04:19
5.Girl Gotta Way 05:01
6.Pamela 03:01
7.Physical World 04:08
8.Every Little Step 02:43
9.Vow 03:50
10.Loop in my Head 03:42
Summary:
Country: USA
Genre: Indie Pop
Format: Tracks
Media Report:
Source : CD
Format : FLAC
Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : ~759-1000 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
