The twilight-saturated folk-pop of Neil Halstead is a pleasure to listen to, even if, like soy products, his music diminishes manhood and makes dudes feel twee–especially when their girlfriends bust them spinning Halstead’s latest, Oh! Mighty Engine, in the car stereo. That’s OK, since the English singer/songwriter possesses the ability to craft unforgettable songs with little more than an acoustic guitar.
The jaunty yet melancholy title track, in which the speaker observes a girl tapping out her novel on a typewriter, revels in the odd power of creativity. She “says the plot is getting stranger / It’s taken over / And the hero’s run away / And no one told her / But she can’t control the page.” “Little Twig,” meanwhile, is a paean to carefree beauties clattering around town on dingy bicycles that sound “like a can of nails on an angel’s tail,” another example of Halstead’s sad lyricism married to bubbly pop.
Sure, there are a few surprises, like the keyboard riff and canned drum beat of “Always the Good” and the flamenco-inspired chords of “Paint a Face.” But it’s only when Halstead focuses on his lyrics that a song like “No Mercy for the Muse” can manage to wrench the heart by posing questions to an artist’s lady of inspiration: “Does your golden hair fall in waves? / No mention of a spot / tantrum or tooth rot?” Oh! Mighty Engine is spotless and perfectly capped, too.
Enjoy it while grilling a steak, though.
This article appears in Aug 21-27, 2008.