Four Eyed Boy – Sueños (DelHotel Records)
Coming out of the same NetLabel as the positively spiffing ‘Mr Racoon‘ Four Eyed Boy is an Electro-Pop act who’ve just released their debut EP, ‘Sueños’, which, after a fashion, has a similarly pleasing, upbeat feel to his stable mates effort ‘Katy‘. So, that’s good then, comparison to Mr Racoon can only be a good thing and with Summer looming in the distance cheerful pop is increasingly the order of the day and by the looks of things the Mexican label seems to have enough of it to keep the world supplied for years to come although the quality, as I’m discovering, can be a little sketchy.
‘Sueños’ is kind of a poor relation to ‘Katy’, the production is alright and there are some good-verging-on-the-very-good moments in there but for consistency it can’t compete, too much of it feeling like filler to cover the gaps between the inspired bits, or maybe just technical deficiency cocking up good ideas which could easily have lasted through a five track EP if handled right. A prime example of this is the title track which has an instrumental chorus which reeks of old fashioned Surf Rock but which sinks into some piss poor quality for the rest. But such problems are forgivable for a first effort, better can come no doubt if a little more guidance is offered/a little more learning done. What can’t be forgiven though are the vocals which leave me a little bemused.
Anyway, yes, the singer has a voice which is weak, wavery and which generally sounds slightly broke. Presumably it’s supposed to be endearing to some degree because I can’t see any other defence for it but it just isn’t, it just sounds amateurish, bad and poorly recorded, a disappointment given the promise contained in the music itself and enough to make the EP slightly redundant because there’s far better out there if you want this kind of thing. And more than that it’s just confusing, I keep coming back to the idea that there must be some angle on this, some niche which it’s appealing to but beyond pub karaoke enthusiasts I can’t see who would appreciate it and why whoever was involved didn’t choose someone else for the vocals. Such are the mysteries of our time I suppose.
I’m assuming this is a solo project although I don’t have all that much grounding for thinking that, as is DelHotel’s nature there’s next to no support for non-Spanish speakers, which is fair enough for a Mexican label, but clicking through random links will only enlighten me so much. Apparently there’s something called the ‘Nubapop Collective’ involved, make of that what you will.
Worth a download perhaps, if only to keep about in anticipation of what Four Eyed Boy does next because there is something there which could be worked on and developed.