Delivering something boldly brilliant with his single, Bring Back the Good Ol' Boys, Tom Minor of London has created a song that is simultaneously catchy and disconcerting simultaneously as the song is meant to be. It is a satirical songwriting at its best with a sound that reminds the theatricality of classic rock whilst still being very modern with an indie sensibility.
Produced by Teaboy Palmer (the self-proclaimed Shadow Morton of Muswell Hill), the song is full and melodramatic, without slipping into spoilage at any point. Its sound is emphatic and rich, and forms a playful, almost carnival-like backdrop which is the Trojan horse that would be the ideal companion to the gloomier tones that are more than just waiting beneath. It is this contrast, light tunes full of heavy social commentary, that makes the song so powerful.
The material is perfectly complemented by a pitch-perfect delivery by Miner: knowing, coy, yet with undertones of sincere concern. He is following the long tradition of British satirists who know that the surest way to make people see how absurd something is is to take it full upon them. The harmonies are rich and complex, and they contribute to the theatrical scope of the song and help to base the emotional effect of the song.
The difference here in the expanding catalogue of Minor, already featuring the celebrated "Eleven Easy Pieces on Anger & Disappointment" is that it is ready to address the issue of political disillusionment directly and yet maintain itself as a catalogue that is actually entertaining. It is not protest music that preaches, it is commentary that will make you break out into a dance though you realise the disturbing trends it is pointing out to you.
With reference to indie rock, new wave, punk, and soul, Minor has created something that is timely and timeless. Bring Back the Good Ol' Boys is yet another demonstration that incisive social insight and thriving musicality do not necessarily go hand in hand, but rather are the same two cherished tools in the formation of art that genuinely works.
