Funke and The Two tone Baby is the stage persona of one Daniel Turnbull and these six songs take us on a journey through the land of the – for the most part anyway – one man band. It seems to be a pretty interesting place to visit too as our Mr Turnbull turns out to be an emotional performer whose worldly tones neatly complement the looped musical accompaniment.
As we are talking about a one man band here, it is perhaps no surprise that Funke and The Two Tone Baby start off with an exercise in simple repetition in “Cecile’s Song” and it was equally unsurprising - to me at least - that ordinariness was avoided by a confident and emphatic vocal performance that reminds me of early David Bowie in style. The drama, in the performance at least, further increases with the melodramatic “Ghosts” whilst rather more conventional in terms of one man band expectations is “Ready, Ready” but even that is distinguished by a set of smart lyrics. Adding in some musical assistance seems to relax Mr Turnbull somewhat and allows him to walk the walk and talk the talk as the front man in “Tomorrow Brings A Better Day”. It would seem that Mr Turnbull can play well with others too.
I hear promise in these six songs. Of that I am certain.