Words and such

Borrowing heavily from Neil Hannon’s songbook, Words And Such comes off more like an interesting experiment than a cohesive collection of tunes. Bennys Head main-man Frank West’s ambition and willingness to try different sounds is to be applauded, but more often than not he aims slightly off target for it to work. ‘Landscape To Be Motorised’ has an odd time signature and strange little blips and squeaks which detract from the song itself, ‘Somebody 06’ sounds like it was recorded underwater by Soundwave from the Decepticons and ‘Those Pre Emo Boys’ suffers from slightly silly lyrics. But it’s not all doom and gloom, because when you take away the gimicks, the song-writing itself is tender, open, honest and heart-warming.

Key Track: 'Bernie Ohls'