Phil Wilson: God Bless Jim Kennedy (Yesboyicecream / Slumberland, 2010)
Phil Wilson was the frontman of the somewhat legendary mid-eighties indie pop group The June Brides and now, over 20 years later, Phil returns to this ball game and shows that he can still handle the art of writing really good pop music. That’s also a small relief, because every now and then one has to face the fact that a past hero returns and releases something that you don’t find interesting at all. Thankfully this is not the case with Phil Wilson. God Bless Jim Kennedy is a great pop album and it seems like quite a logical step forward even though there’s over 20 years in between the last The June Brides releases and this album. He hasn’t abandoned his indie pop roots and a lot of that same magic is still around. However, he is not just trying to relive the past glory by totally copying the old sound, because it’s the only thing he knows how. Not at all. It’s more like he is just gently modernizing the 80’s indie pop sound and it works beautifully. The album is full of sweet & delicate pop songs which are also catchy and danceable and the whole thing sounds fascinating. Well done.
Phil Wilson was the frontman of the somewhat legendary mid-eighties indie pop group The June Brides and now, over 20 years later, Phil returns to this ball game and shows that he can still handle the art of writing really good pop music. That’s also a small relief, because every now and then one has to face the fact that a past hero returns and releases something that you don’t find interesting at all. Thankfully this is not the case with Phil Wilson. God Bless Jim Kennedy is a great pop album and it seems like quite a logical step forward even though there’s over 20 years in between the last The June Brides releases and this album. He hasn’t abandoned his indie pop roots and a lot of that same magic is still around. However, he is not just trying to relive the past glory by totally copying the old sound, because it’s the only thing he knows how. Not at all. It’s more like he is just gently modernizing the 80’s indie pop sound and it works beautifully. The album is full of sweet & delicate pop songs which are also catchy and danceable and the whole thing sounds fascinating. Well done.
I Own It:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92ejojMSoO0]
