(5-track demo/ 2003)
Should you like your music as sweet and good-natured as possible, take a bite into the young and photogenic Adrian Lomas. Playing, recording and releasing his music from home and behind the guise of 'Twenty Twenty Vision' for some unfocused reason, these five songs refreshingly lilt even more than the top drink of the same name.
Cheshire-based, Adrian is bountifully fusing strong beats with his sweet-souled vocals and acoustic guitar shenanigans to produce a melody-graced sound that's undeniably original, as opening track 'What Am I To Say?' transfixes the senses. While some acoustic-based singer-songwriters are content with slap-happily cutting-and-pasting any old cheap drum-beat behind the crux of their music and musings for added depth, Adrian's beats are carefully chosen and genuinely do compliment his reflective moods. On into 'So Secretly,' and this music really is unlike barely anything out there at the moment with its dreamy, wistful, sultry take on life, but moreover Adrian's fascination with being in - or at least 'on the verge' of - love.
As 'Complication' ('I only came here for some information�') opens I'm bizarrely reminded of the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl on sublime vocal form, and even Judie Tzuke, as the subtle-as-summer-dew melodies and Adrian's soft voice ensure that melancholia has never ever been so uplifting, before the most upbeat song present in 'Baby Lost' precedes the lovely 'Some Silhouette.'
The band Lowgold came close to producing songs this likeable, and so do duo Ben & Jason� yet this man behind Twenty Twenty Vision sounds to have an edge over even them. This is pop at its most heartfelt and soothing and it's an honour to wipe the smear of tears that it harbours the potential to induce in downpours down my sleeve.
(STEVE RUDD)
E-mail� [email protected]
Visit� www.twentytwentyvision.net
Or Write to�
ADRIAN LOMAS, 46 WOODFIELD ROAD, CHEADLE HULME, CHESHIRE, SK8 7JS.
Tel� 0161 486 6277