Review Summary: Ginger releases another solid pledge album with slightly more varied results
In 2012 Ginger pretty much revolutionised how artists make and release music by starting a project on the pledge music website, for those among us who are unaware of what pledge music is, it's a website which allows artists to fund projects through donations from fans. In return, us fans get exclusive merchandise, updates on the project, contact with the artist and a whole plethora of other goodies. It's basically a way of cutting out the record label and other pitfalls that Ginger has experienced on his well trodden road. The first pledge campaign Ginger did broke records for how quickly it reached its goal and how much it raised, it was a huge success and thrust Ginger back into the media spotlight and into the charts briefly. The pledge album
555% was a glorious body of work which encompassed all of Gingers musical styles and allowed Ginger to continue making music. He then released his
Mutation projects through pledge which were also successful and saw Ginger broadening his musical horizon by stepping into the heavier and more complex areas of music.
This brings us up to this album which is Gingers 3rd pledge campaign in 2 years, entitled
Albion. For this record Ginger took a road trip around the coast of mainland Britain to gain inspiration for his songs, hence the title of the record being
Albion (the oldest name for Britain). Ginger assembled his usual band to record the album, Denzel on drums, Jon Poole on bass, Chris Catalyst on guitar, Rich Jones on guitar, Victoria Liedtke on backing vocals and for the first time Bryan Scary on keyboards. This "band" has been working with Ginger for a long time now and this album certainly benefits from this as it sounds a lot more like a band affair than a solo album. It may have Gingers name on the cover but the contributions from the other members cannot be overlooked.
Opener
Drive showcases Gingers usual swagger and ease at writing great hooks, the song effortlessly glides along in a perky style despite the obviously downbeat lyrical content, Ginger has an incredible knack of writing cheerful songs about the most darkest of subjects. The songs on here remind me more of his older solo content like the albums
Yoni or
Market Harbour, neither of which I was the biggest fan of, the songs on here twist and turn and surprise the listener with time changes and flirtations between his heavier music and gentler sounds.
Grow A Pair is a highlight in terms of Gingers frank and honest lyrics with him singing about kicking the habits and changing his life but missing his past, his vocal exchanges with Victoria on this song work really well.
The Order of the Dog is possibly the best track on here with its melancholic intro into Gingers most honest lyrics about his ongoing battles with depression "You can fight and you can win, but sometimes you've gotta let the black dog in". The bridge of the song beats you into the huge chorus thanks to Bryan Scary's keyboard work and the aftermath of the chorus is reminiscent of some of Gingers
Mutation project songs.
There are some fantastic songs on here and its obvious how much talent and work has gone into them but for some reason it just doesn't always work and maybe its just me, but it doesn't click in the way his
555% (or
100% if you bought the commercial release) album did. Maybe the
555% project was just one of those perfect moments in an artists career where the stars align and the perfect storm appears and everything just works. There are small niggles with this album though that I can't shake, Gingers vocals at time sound miles away, which has been a criticism of some of his previous albums. I know that Ginger is not a fan of his singing and ideally wouldn't sing at all but I find great comfort in his voice and would always want to hear it front and centre instead of taking a back step behind the backing vocals and guitars. A couple of the songs don't work for me,
Body Parts is a real throwaway for me, considering it was the promo song from the album it just doesn't stand up to the other material, its a decent enough punchy little song but compared to the sprawling nature of the other songs here, it may as well not be on the album.
Where the album really works is when the reigns come off of Gingers talent and he lets the songs go where they need to go like on
The Beat Goes on (Caledonia) with its sporadic nature. When Ginger showcases his more tender side it really hits home how good he is as a lyricist and a vocalist,
After All You Said About Cowboys is a beautiful song which smoothly subdues the listener as it gently meanders along. Album closer
Albion is an epic number, with Gingers airy vocals leading to a huge chorus and the song showcasing the huge talent that Ginger has alongside him in his band, the song has elements of boogie woogie music in it and has an obvious nod to
The Cardiacs musical styling.
Ginger has and will make better albums than this but this album is still head and shoulders above what many artists attempt to release and is a solid entry into his expanding catalogue. Never one to rest on his laurels, Ginger is a prolific artist and has already moved on from this on to other projects away from pledge music, which has inevitably been over run with established artists trying to make more money from fans, instead of the original form it took which was to allow artists to create music for fans. But Ginger is a maverick in this world and whatever he chooses to do next will always be exciting and original, the music industry is better off with Ginger pushing the boundaries.
