Ball Park Music: Puddinghead

- Releasing two albums in two years with a relentless touring schedule in between is no mean feat, so it’s little wonder that for their third record, Ball Park Music opted to devote several months, exclusively, to writing and recording. The band were involved in every element of Puddinghead from writing to final production, they created the entire album alone. The result is a diverse and at times, haphazard album that probably could have benefited from the artistic influence of an external producer, though is not entirely without merit. The album opens with She Only Loves Me When I’m There, a synth-laden guitar jam with some catchy pop hooks and Sam Cromack ‘s trademark lyrical wit. There’s plenty of experimentalism going on throughout the album with tracks like A Good Life Is The Best Revenge and Trippin’ The Light Fantastic taking cues from the disco music of the late 70s. Only a few tracks later, however, Cocaine Lion arrives with the dirty guitar and driving beat of a 90's indie rock hit. Cromack’s penchant for metaphors and quirky analogies in his lyrics has devolved, just a little, in Puddinghead. He’s returned to a more traditional and literal method of story telling. It's more mature, sure, but openly singing about cocaine is not nearly as fun as a metaphorical Alligators in a yard. The mixed bag of tracks continues in the second half of the album, particularly in Struggle Street, a darker, more brooding song with a driving bass line punctuated with a funk-like keyboard riff. The track will undoubtedly divide listeners, it adds to a growing sense of chaos and lack of clarity that creeps into the end of the album. Puddinghead has all but moved on from the loveable pop charm of Ball Park Music’s previous work and instead takes a more experimental, ‘we’ll-try-anything-once’ approach to song writing. It is largely successful, with a few golden highlights shining away so you don't notice the record's shortcomings. Nevertheless there’s no escaping the feeling that with a few more people on board, this album could have been a much more cohesive final product, featuring the very best of the band rather than Ball Park’s comparatively narrow, internalised conceptions of their own music. - Clare Armstrong.