REVIEW: Gomez, Liquid Skin (Virgin)
- Christina Apeles
Who's afraid of the sophomore jinx? Not Gomez. Their debut album, Bring It On, was no doubt one of the most refreshing albums of last year, and their second album, Liquid Skin, serves as yet another glisten of hope that rock'n'roll will continue to evolve. After receiving numerous awards from their home country of England and well-deserved acclaim in the U.S., Gomez returns with a brilliant collection of songs that showcases their genius. Plentiful in its rock fervor, bluesy rhythms and rich verse, Liquid Skin is far from a poor follow-up album; it is lyrical splendor.
Tom Gray, Ian Ball, Ben Ottewelle, Paul Blackburn and Olly Peacock together offer a tour through a textured musical landscape full of suprising lyrical turns, chorus upon chorus, dense orchestrations and experimental twists, in songs like "Bring It On," "Blue Moon Rising" and "We Haven't Turned Around." "Rythm & Blues Alibi" is a stunning song, with Ball and Ottewell trading off on verses and choruses, steeped in Americana, as is "California." With a vocal factor of three (Ball, Ottewell, Gray) creating a diverse number of tracks, with one to three of the members singing on each song, alongside stratified bass lines, percussion, keyboards, and guitars, at times, so much is happening at once, it is overwhelming. But then again, when's the last time a song overwhelmed you?
Gomez's music is a kind of archeological exploration of musical directions over the decades where you may come across The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana and even Dusty Springfield. The eleven tracks on Liquid Skin reach back through history, incorporating horns in the tradition of jazz, variations on early pop hooks, harmonica to capture the true Americana spirit; at the same time pushing forward into the future with the use of an underwater microphone, an electric guitar as a gigantic drum mic and playing percussion on a fire extinguisher. So maybe someone played on an extinguisher before, but at the heart of these schemes is a desire to experiment and develop their sound which Gomez continues to do, and do well. Liquid Skin is a journey you should take again and again, because just as with Gomez's first album, Bring It On, you only begin to appreciate what a jewel it is when its many musical layers are revealed -- then embraced -- with every listen.
