CD reviews: One Direction; Andy Stott; Various Artists
A confession: before the release of Four, I could not have named a single One Direction song. It’s one cultural phenomenon that simply passed me by (Simon Cowell created them? Harry Styles is one?). So I’m not in a great position to comment on One Direction’s emotional and musical maturation over the course of their career.
Four
SYCO/Columbia
A confession: before the release of Four, I could not have named a single One Direction song. It’s one cultural phenomenon that simply passed me by (Simon Cowell created them? Harry Styles is one?). So I’m not in a great position to comment on One Direction’s emotional and musical maturation over the course of their career.
However, I can assess Four on the basis of its own merits. Basically, One Direction sound like a cute bunch of enthusiastic teenagers (they’re actually all 20 to 22). Four opens jubilant, like a Journey track. “I got it all, cause she is the one/Her mum calls me love, her dad calls me son.” It’s infectious, toe-tapping pop, perfectly calibrated to win the hearts of 14-year-old girls worldwide. The music oscillates between retro 1980s big rock ballads
(Steal My Girl, Where Do Broken Hearts Go) and country-inflected 1970s pop rock (Girl Almighty, Fireproof). No one song really stands out though. Just like the band members, modestly collaborating in tandem, the music shies away from any memorable audacity.
Four is just too loveable, too nice, too forgettable.
Faith in Strangers
Modern Love
