Somewhere back in time I remember seeing Angus Munro perform a solo set whilst he was on the lam from his (then?) band The Dirty Demographic. I remember thinking then – oh those glorious days when thought was “in” – that here was an urbane chap with a capability for intelligent songs that would draw as much from Noël Coward as they would from Stephen Sondheim.
His, presumably first, solo EP “Shooting First” does indeed follow such an arc of musical references but now added to his lyrical motivations are an altogether bleaker outlook than those that would guarantee a nice night out at the London Palladium. However, the cleverness of his melodic structures betray a worthy education in the ways of quavers and crochets as does his ability to spice up a song with the necessary grandeur just when it needs it.
Although the seemingly superficial title song seems more styled as middle of the afternoon housefraü commercial radio fodder and therefore incongruous in terms of the rather more personal, and laser guided, payload of the other songs, it is the song that most Michael Bublé tuned ears will adopt as friendly. That said, it was the take no prisoners approach take on obsession of “The Death Of Me” that impressed me the most. After all, who could fail to smile at a line like “…both your thighs have me on bad terms with God”?
The “Shooting First” EP is available from Bandcamp. Lock and load.