PAUL DRAPER - Ep One

Paul Draper needed as many as thirteen years after his band's split to get around to releasing new music under his own solo project. After a long period of total disappearance from the scene, barring a few sporadic collaborations, the former Mansun frontman first wanted to make sure, through a sizeable presence on social media, that people were still interested in a possible comeback, and following the widely positive response, he joined forces with Welsh singer and multi-instrumentalist Catherine Anne Davies, working simultaneously on her project, under the moniker The Anchoress, and on his own.

Now that Davies' album is out, it was time for Draper to put his foot down, hence this “Ep One”, a title borrowed from the Mansun habit of numbering every Ep they released – though back then the number came before the word Ep, while here it follows it, a sign that the past isn't being disowned, but this project is nonetheless being treated as something new.

This preamble is important to understand that, in the three unreleased songs on the Ep, there are far more similarities with his former band than differences. This is especially true of the two non-singles: “No Ideas”, written and performed with Steven Wilson, could slot perfectly into that whirlwind of melodic, sonic and atmospheric shifts that is “Six”, while “The Silence Is Deafening” has the same classic pop-rock attitude that characterised “Little Kix”. Both tracks sit at a high level from every possible angle: compositional inspiration, vocal expressiveness, skill in artistic production and emotional impact, and while the former could find a place on the benchmark album purely on quality grounds, the latter would surely rank among the best two or three songs on a rather uneven record.

Paradoxically, the least convincing track is the single “Feeling My Heart Run Slow”, which also appears here in a version remixed by Twilight Sad, who have given it a strong leaning towards eighties-style synths in the Depeche Mode mould. The original version is a first attempt by Draper to integrate guitars and electronics, with the latter dominating the verse and the six strings taking centre stage in the chorus. The strong melodic quality is kept intact, and it's pleasing to hear how smoothly such a radical shift in sound is pulled off, but perhaps the verse's sound is a touch too claustrophobic, and in any case the other two songs are certainly more captivating and emotionally engaging.

All in all, this is a good way for Draper to get back on track, as he now plans to release another Ep followed by the album, before heading out on tour in 2017. From this first solo cry it's clear that the man still knows how to write, perform and produce music, and all the signs suggest that this isn't a mere nostalgia exercise, but an artistic fire that hasn't gone out at all and promises further feats to come.

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16/06/2016