“Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight“
from the album Electric Arguments
2008
There’s simply no way of discussing this album without first addressing its origin and personnel. The Fireman is a duo consisting of Youth (Killing Joke bassist and jack-of-all-trades producer of experimental electronica and ambient remixes as well as the more mainstream rock of the Verve and Guns ‘N Roses) and Paul McCartney (who needs no parenthetical).
McCartney had always been fascinated with the experimental possibilities of electronic music, and with Youth’s studio wizardry, the Fireman released two albums of far-out electronic ambience. Initially, they hid their identities, allowing Fireman’s music to swim out into the musical landscape unfettered by the loaded preconceptions that their names exude. However, the duo’s identities were inevitably outed.
McCartney and Youth no longer attempt to shroud Fireman in anonymity. And that’s not the only change this time around. Unlike 1994’s Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest and 1998’s Rushes, which were ambient electronic experiments, Electric Arguments is basically a standard pop album, complete with concise structure and prominent vocals.
McCartney’s latest offerings, especially 2007’s Memory Almost Full, were like sonic chicken noodle soup, familiar and comforting but also unexciting. McCartney was consciously playing the musical role of “Paul McCartney, ” staying safe and giving us what we all expected but nothing more, nothing new.
On Electric Arguments, McCartney throws out the can of Campbell’s condensed and improvises a new recipe from scratch, impulsively dashing in pinches of spice, haphazardly tossing in whatever ingredients come to mind. The result is an exciting, strange and unexpected stew.
The opening song announces this exploratory spirit quite definitively. “Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight” is a dirty, noisy blues sure to make some fans verify whether they haven’t mistakenly bought the wrong album. The feedback and guttural vocals that close the song shed light on the underexposed side of McCartney’s persona behind “Helter Skelter.”
But this album isn’t all blistering freak-out jams. In fact, it doesn’t stick with any one sound at all. It’s almost as if Youth and McCartney recorded four separate EPs, each cohesive in their own right, but then threw all the tracks into a Hefty bag, shook it up and out came the hodgepodge that is Electric Arguments. While this might irreparably fault lesser albums, it adds to this album’s off-the-cuff charm.
One sound is that of the previously mentioned “Nothing Too Much”: blistering blues with a vengeance. Then there is more traditionally Macca-esque fare replete with flowing melodies and a laid-back aura. The twee “Two Magpies” takes its lyrics from a nursery rhyme, and “Light from Your Lighthouse” is a folksy sing-along. Even though they are more predictable, they exude a long-absent freshness. For example, on the latter track McCartney explores the sinister tones of his vocal range’s bottom end, undercutting the otherwise pastel tune with darker shades. It’s hard to imagine such ambiguity existing in Memory‘s two-dimensional landscape. Another recurring sound on Electric Arguments is a wide-eyed spiritual sound. It’s U2-ish, triumphantly idealistic yet less overbearing. Tracks in this vein, like “Sing the Changes,” sparkle with their lyrical optimism and inspiring musical force.
The album closes with five tracks of a more experimental and electronic bent, many lacking prominent vocals or recognizable structure. At their worst, these experiments are meanderingly indulgent; at their best they’re hypnotically captivating, such as pulsating “Lovers in a Dream.” It’s much more fascinating to hear McCartney occasionally trip up while trying new things than to hear him go through the motions as he has on his past few albums.
Perhaps the fact that this isn’t truly a McCartney release has eliminated any pressure to conform to a preconceived identity. Or maybe the act of collaborating, especially with a creative foil like Youth, has brought out a hidden side of his talents. Whatever the roots of this risk-taking may be, the result is an exciting album that enriches and expands our understanding of McCartney’s endearing personality and immense talents.