Catch Me If You Can - Spielberg Review

 

The Sins of Our Fathers

Catch Me If You Can is a film directed by Steven Spielberg and was made in 2002 starring at that point two of the most bankable stars of that era - Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. It tells the story of Frank Abagnale Jr. (DiCaprio) who before the age of 19 achieved a level of cheque fraud unseen before or since, he stole millions of dollars from the government by posing as a pilot, doctor and lawyer while being chased by Carl Hanratty (Hanks) of the FBI, all the while hoping to rekindle the marriage of his father, Frank Snr (Christopher Walken) and his mom, Paula (Nathalie Baye).

Spielberg's tact at this point of his career was to make films that were entertaining, illuminating and as always married with a rich composition and combination of efficiency and economy thanks to his directorial flourishes and the script by Jeff Nathanson.

Bookended by a flashback sequence, with Hanratty finding Frank in a foreign cell and extraditing him to the United States to face trial, we then start in 1963 where Frank attends his father's life achievement at his lodge ceremony but already the seeds of discontent are being sown by an ongoing inland revenue audit against Frank Snr's stationary shop forcing an estrangement of the marriage culminating in a legal divorce extrapolated by Paula's affair with Jack Barnes (James Brolin), her eventual second husband.

From the outset as Snr talks about seducing Paula, a French native while he was deployed in her town of Montrichard during World War II, it is clear that both Abagnale's are capable of weaving stories and tales to manipulate women (mostly) to obtain financial benefits and suits on hire.

In a pique of rage, following the divorce Frank goes on the run heading for New York City to start a life of independence all while still technically a minor. His first escapade as a pilot leads him to fly the country for free and his first sexual conquests. Hanratty is on the trail and it leads him to a hotel where unknowingly, he comes face to face with Frank who poses as a Secret Service Agent - Barry Allen, and able to evade capture while keeping hold of his machine to forge cheques still. Hanratty is behind the eight ball as he thought he was attempting to capture an adult yet the fact that Frank is a minor is a positive for him as he has no record or fingerprints for the FBI to work off of.

The scene where Hanratty meets Barry Allen is quite brilliant, it shows two actors going head to head but with the junior in a superior position but it is also the power of language in terms of that spoken and body language - the looks and tells that people give away but also the confidence of speaking to strangers gives off great power of authority when used effectively. Hanks is the elder, he has the gun and yet he is quickly into a position of submission with egg on his face. And he still gives his colleagues their ice cream.

Throughout the film, the characters are set up and brought down by the behaviour of their fathers most notably Frank and Carl himself has become an absent father to his daughter; like much of Spielberg's oeuvre this film reflects or looks upon male protagonists from broken homes and troubled childhoods. 

Spielberg's parents divorced when he was in his teens like Frank himself, and it would have been around the same timeline as Frank getting his wings so to speak, so this in a way is Spielberg's nostalgic look at a time of innocence and shot with a fondness such as the scenes at exotic getaways such as Miami, yet the scenes shot with the two Franks together are more claustrophobic and darker in terms of their setting and context. Frank keeps returning to his father in the hope of making him proud, yet Senior is too concerned with suing the government than to praise his son with the blessings he so desperately requires.

What remains on the film is a triumphant light tale that is entertaining and from a look back of Spielberg's filmography perhaps his last light fun film before he got bogged down by a darker palette and cinematography - see Munich, War of the Worlds, Lincoln and War Horse. That is not to discern the quality of those films yet they are shot with less of a rose tinted lens as previously and with a more downbeat perspective.

This film comes when Spielberg is nearly 30 years into his career, and he is a director very much at a crossroads of his filmography. Moving from the popcorn, light fare to the more discerning, thought-provoking adult maturity he is now more renowned for; this is also the last time Spielberg identified with a kid in one of his movies, much like Elliott in ET or the Goonies - from here on in it is adults who are broken or coming from broken homes for future projects. Abraham Lincoln has to overcome the death of a young child, Tom Cruise's Ray in War of the Worlds is a single father while combatting an alien invasion and the children in Jurassic Park have no parents present when running away from dinosaurs seeking solace in the arms of surrogate parental figures who are strangers but yet idols in their eyes.

Supermilk - Four by Three

 

Debut album by ex-Doe drummer Jake Popyrua, Four by Three is released by Specialist Subject on 2nd July

Stated as a studio-only project, an abundance of writing and the restrictions placed on individuals by the coronavirus pandemic, Popyura started writing and demoing songs on a regular basis and soon accumulated enough material for a new LP following the release of two EPs in 2017 and 2019 and the debut LP 'Death is the Best Thing for you Now'.

Utilising the social distancing restrictions, Popyura teamed up with producer friend Rich Mandell to record the album at Marketstall Recordings in East London over the course of only six days.

This slapdash breakneck pace of recording comes across in the finished article, a work of sheer drive and urgency with unbridled enthusiasm like a driver staying in the fast lane doing 75mph overtaking cars but not changing lanes. The fuzziness and power of the project streams out over the airwaves and harkens back to the final Doe album which was very much a joie de vivre of infectious punk rock. 

To this listener, this is a relative of the early albums from The Young Knives melodically sharp with biting lyrics of the now with an earnest vocal delivery by Popyura.

The punk rock DNA is there to see from track three 'Cease to Exist' to the poppy 'Mouth' to the infectious 'Fears' - this is a songwriter who is in the midst of a purple patch and enjoying himself clearly working with the crippling restrictions of individuality to make the most of the situation.

"One upside of 2020 for me was being forced to sit with uncertainty and learning to accept that some things can’t be resolved as neatly as we’d like, if at all, especially when it comes to interpersonal matters, but maybe that’s ok,"

As he goes on to state, not everything has a neat ending. His lyrics are drawn from personal relationships but the accessibility of the music invites the listener to take it as their own. Take a song like 'Lifesaver' the vocals cleverly show a man almost calling desperately for help but clinging to his instruments for dear life just as much. 

Or 'Swim' a real cacophony of drums v guitars. For me personally, to hear this music live would be a wonder reminded this listener of the forgotten Somos album from 2019 - it is not merely making noise for the sake of it, this is at the junction of rock and pop and being heard loud and clear.

Four By Three is out from Specialist Subject on 2nd July.

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

Mt Misery 'Once Home, No Longer'

Debut album from highly touted North East trio, Once Home, No Longer via Prefect Records

Mt. Misery became a band in 2019, initially a solo project of Andrew Smith they quickly established themselves on the live scene in the popular North East fraternity by touring constantly until the Covid-19 pandemic took hold of the world.

This album is a marker of intent for a young trio of male musicians, incorporating the best of west coast Americana but with a Northern England sensibility with daydreams and soundscapes of halcyon days in the sunshine. As I write this review, the South of England is being bombarded by a deluge of rainfall in stark contrast to the blistering mini-heatwave of a few days prior. So putting on this album helped overcome the sadness of the never-ending rain and helped dream about days by the foreign shore which remain a long way away personally.

Full of the time capsule capabilities reminiscent in contemporaries from across the pond such as Whitney with that magnificent eye to the tradition of Laurel Canyon song-writing but also recalling that mainstream busting album by Irish band The Thrills which was the archetypal love letter to Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys.

Opening with 'The Dreaming Days Are Over' which exudes romantic realism with trembling guitars and gentle percussion; yet for all the sunshine on the exterior of the songs there is an underlying internality such as 'In The Blink of an Eye' which is about Andrew's unemployment and feelings of directionless.

This personality of the record speaks volumes as it helps the album become both universal and welcoming to a listener to take the song on as their own: 

“We tend to labour over songs for a long time before committing to them, but with ‘The Thought of Losing You’, being a bit more spontaneous led to one of our favourites on the album. In this instance, I’d been tinkering with the piano part since before we formed the band. With an hour to spare at the end of a long day tracking drums, we came up with a loose structure and built the song around that.”

The record incorporates the geography of the band themselves hailing from Hartlepool; but the restrictions of working as a band during lockdown does lead to happy accidents such as the album being unexpectedly mixed by Kenny Gilmore in Los Angeles, a far cry from the North Sea coast. This helps a track such as 'Taken by the Tide' become something more akin to Denis Wilson and Neil Young.

The album is a perfect antidote to the gnawing antagonism and angst of the pandemic coming to an end; while the sun may be shining here is an album that is the perfect partner to it with warm weather goodness running through its veins and through the airwaves.

Once Home No Longer is out now from Prefect Records

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

Red Ribbon 'Planet X'

 

New album by multi-instrumentalist Red Ribbon released by Danger Collective

Singer-songwriter Emma Danner has navigated the difficulty of leaving a bustling up and coming band and sailing alone to produce her second album under the moniker of Red Ribbon in the release of Planet X.

Working with Randall Dunn (renowned for his collaborations with Sunn O))), he has pushed Danner to create a piece of work that is both full of personal discovery away from the comfort zone of keys and electronica.

Starting with the inward looking 'The Weight of Man', Red Ribbon is talking about her place in the world that has gone through a seismic change in the last 18 months owing to the global pandemic - melodic and full of internality; the music grows into the second track 'Way' which is full of swooning ooh's and aah's. There is no mistaking the vision on display here by Danner who creates a foreboding atmosphere with her meditative lyrics.

Embracing a plethora of musical influences ranging from folk and Laurel Canyon to the songstresses of Billie Holiday, Red Ribbon is a vehicle for Danner to embrace a sonic change in her experimentation and the end result allows her to be spoken of in the same breathe as her contemporaries Laura Marling, Margaret Glaspy and Anna Burch.

Hailing from Seattle but residing in Los Angeles; there is this collision of those two different American worlds the influence of nature upon any settler in North West America as well as the enigmatic glamour of Los Angeles - two psyches collide here in this album. In the case of the title track, 'Planet X' is a response to the forest fires that ripped apart California (not for the first time) in November 2018 so this clash of the personal with something you cannot control shows the fragility of the individual in this big world.

Full of the joys and tragedies which life can throw at you in this brittle and fragile world, Planet X is a treasure trove of transformation for both the artist and the listener. The external forces are there to be utilised and is ripe for inspiration for an artist.

From the strings of 'Hold' to the anxiety on display in 'Renegade' there is a real sense of personal in this album that is full of personality.  If this can be done in solo isolation, the future bodes well once the gates of collaboration open up again.

Planet X is out from Danger Collective Records on 11th June

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

Fightmilk - Contender

 

New album from indie pretenders out via Reckless Yes on Friday 14th May

The second album from the South London four-piece is breaking out in May, following on from the 2018 debut Not With That Attitude.

Formed in a beer garden in 2015, Lily and Alex used the energy of post-break-ups into an indie pop soundtrack indebted more to the Britpop era culminating in the 2018 release on the Fierce Panda label after two EPs. The DNA of the band is alt-rock with power pop riffs about the embrace of failing relationships but with a sunny disposition.

In response to the pandemic which put everybody on hold, vocalist/guitarist Lily speaks about her writing process; 'I was inspired to write ‘...Space’ by watching someone who keeps loudly proclaiming they’re going to save humanity and change the world constantly make excuses for why they haven’t got round to it. It’s largely about emotional labour and rockets and I’m dead proud of it.”

Heavier material abounds from 'Cool Cool Girl' and 'Banger #4' to the more vulnerable 'If You Had A Sister'; a trend this reviewer is noticing in recent releases is that many bands are putting on tracks that may well run less than 90 seconds. 

In the past such tracks would be deemed surplus or merely unnecessary filler but now following the pandemic - it is more evidence of a band or performer making up for lost time by issuing an idea or riff as a matter of pride on the sequencing of an album as more of a bridge to the next track rather than an afterthought.

From the handclap feel good of 'Hey Annabelle' to the 'The Absolute State of Me' with its personal subject matter there is a lot of accessibility and engagement within this album.

Full of synths, guitars and group vocals, Fightmilk have created an infectious album of pop and indie vibes incorporating the surfer vibe of California and goes hand in hand with this newest of new wave of indie bands along with Pillow Queens and Sonder Bombs; bands led by female vocalists who infuse their music with an energy and power that is refreshing.

Contender is out from Reckless Yes and is available here

Thanks to Wall of Sound for the review opportunity.

For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her - McKinley Dixon

 

Debut album from Virginia rapper, McKinley Dixon on Spacebomb

As a white Anglo-Saxon music lover, you are always tentative to review black rap music. I was born a stones throw from the breeding ground of Chas and Dave and the old architectural haunts of Flanagan and Allen, that is my musical heritage. Yet to listen to black music is always an eye opening occasion, it brings you into new grounds of language, composition and social exploration.

Unlike the gangsta rap so prevalent in my formative university years such as 50 Cent, my ears have always been more keen to listen to the socially conscious rappers - those who use their platform as a means to get a message across of what it means to be a young black person in the United States of America.

The first artist who piqued my interest was Lupe Fiasco - his double hit of The Cool - was seminal and is somewhat overshadowed by the monster that was the early career of Kanye West and then you have the works of Kendrick Lamar and Frank Ocean.

This new album by Richmond based artist, McKinley Dixon is more in the part of socially aware rap but also uses the music as a way of exploring his own social form but showcases the power of communication and connection

Tracks such as brown shoulders is so soulful yet has the message underlying of processing grief, yet you still have those chart hits such as Never Will Know a collaboration with Micah James and Gold Midas a feelgood jam which goes hand in hand with the soulful protective styles (feat Abby T).

Dixon is a well read artist indebted to the recently departed Toni Morrision on his track 'B.B.N.E' using her words to time travel to a different time.

'Bless the Child' has three beat switches but shows Dixon tracing patterns through time, it is as if Dixon is challenging black people to revisit more than one timeline and question everything about their place in society.

The huge array of influences across the musical spectrum running from jazz, rap, soul and blues means this will be a ripe live show once we get to that sense of normality. Dixon thinks of himself as a time traveller and in his words, 'Storytelling is time travel, it's taking the listener to that place. Quick time travel. Magic. These raps I’m making are no different than stories told around the campfire. They elongate the culture'.

This album marks Dixon out as a force to be reckoned with as a solo artist and collaborator across the music diaspora, a genuine talent of intellect and artistic integrity.

Follow McKinley Dixon on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her is out from Spacebomb or bandcamp

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review op

Buffet Lunch - The Power of Rocks

 

Eclectic debut album from Scottish four piece out 7th May via Upset the Rhythm

Buffet Lunch are a four man band from Scotland, who are on a mission to serve up imperfect pop songs with humour and energy, this has been formed into the kaleidoscopic debut album that is The Power of Rocks out on 7th May from Upset the Rhythm.

The parts of the band consist of Perry O'Bray (vocals/keys/guitars), Neil Robinson (bass), John Muir (lead guitar) and Luke Moran (drums), who came together through a love of all things pop and indie and everything in between the two cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Together the foursome of constructed a wonky DIY feel to their cacophony of sound which runs the gamut of emotions from loneliness and downbeat to the upper echelons of breezy melody.

Recorded on the banks of Upper Loch Fyne in Argyll over four nights and five days at the beginning of March 2020 before the world pandemic took hold, there is a sense of living in the moment when listening back to the album's eleven track sequence.

A blend of production and musicianship take hold as the run times of songs differ throughout from the sub two minute shouts of 'Pebbledash' and 'Bladderwrack' combine against the longer more traditional 'Looking at Liz Talent's Chair' and 'Ashley's New Haircut'.

This encompasses everything with a seemingly brief 38 minutes total run time yet the melodies and compositions stay with you throughout and after the fact - from the bop and riffiness of 'He Wore Two Hats' to the anthemic title track which embraces the feeling of climate and location of recording that took place.

An album of time and place at once, this is a work that may be difficult to access for many but you are certain people said this of Black Country, New Road at the beginning - when the ear worm worthiness of songs take hold it cannot be denied.

For fans of such obscure artists as Sweet Baboo (do check out Wild Imagination from 2017) and those other eclectic bands of the last few years such as BCNR and Pet Shimmers; this is an album that is both mesmerising and engaging.

The Power of Rocks is released on 7th May via Upset the Rhythm

Follow the band on Twitter and Instagram

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity