There’s a difference between being aware of something and understanding it fully. Eugene McGuinness, now four albums into his career, clearly has British pop down. ‘Chroma’ displays a deep well of affection for and knowledge of its best moments, jumping from subtly psychedelic melodies to driving Kinks guitars in a flash.
McGuinness, now six years removed from his self-titled bow, is an accomplished presence; his yelped vocals bouncing around under a thin layer of reverb, his lyrics pointed and often laced with pop-culture wit.
The album’s best song, I Drink Your Milkshake, twists the insane payoff from Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood into one of the year’s most endearing choruses, while there’s an unmistakable whiff of one of the Beatles’ most iconic riffs at the heart of Godiva.
Neatly, though McGuinness twists the rising notes into a mesmerising hook and cracks self-deprecating in the chorus: “In the chaos of my elation, I get ideas above my station.”
Immortals takes the same approach in its bridge, the vocals winding up before leaping into another sugar rush, and Heart Of Chrome mainlines a paranoid opening riff before McGuinness again produces a chorus from nowhere, which pops in following more well-executed, layered back ups.
Elsewhere, things aren’t quite as succinct. Deception Of The Crush can’t nail the circularity of Godiva and quickly becomes repetitive, with All In All perfectly nice but ineffective when followed up by the driving Black Stang. The less said about Fairlight, the record’s closing dirge, the better.
McGuinness is an engaging, entertaining host throughout ‘Chroma’, with its go-to moves executed very, very well indeed. There are a few duds along the way, but this is a record that marks its author out as a songwriter deserving of greater recognition.
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