Customer Reviews

Sweet Disarray

Dan Croll, a young British singer/songwriter and former student at
Sir Paul McC's Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts, seems already
to have been making a not insignificant noise in the listening world.
Hearing his debut 'Sweet Disarray' one can easily begin to understand
why this might be so. It's a very fine first showing.

Mr Croll certainly understands how to make good tune and there are
(almost) a dozen of them in the set. His voice, although not especially
distinctive, is more than fit for purpose and his vocal performances are
both confident and tonally secure. The mood of the album is largely upbeat;
the melodies bright and breezy and the choruses more or less hummable,
without ever quite becoming "can't-get-you-out-of-my-head" brain-worms.

The best of the bunch would certainly have to include opening numbers
'From Nowhere' with its cutesy and quaintly cheesy Latin shuffle and
'Thinkin Aboutchu' which has more than a little of 80's Level 42 about
it in its insistent bass led rhythm. 'In/Out' is an exuberant piece of
glistening synth-pop which, whether knowingly or not, points to a musical
seam already well-mined by Vincent Frank (aka Frankmusik) and 'Must Be
Leaving', a strong composition in which Mr Croll seems to find his own feet.

The trite domestic sentiments of final track 'Home', however, are truly cringe-worthy.

Eleven winners and one small miss-hit can't be bad for a first release though can it?

Give it a go....

Did you ever buy an album where you just think, "Goodness gracious". Well that's exactly how I felt about this album. Fresh into the Indie music scene with his debut album, Sweet Disarray, Dan Croll shows that the potential is most definitely there, with a plethora of different styles of music in this album including rock, synth and even some pop and acoustic tracks to keep it sounding creative.

Lets get into the thick of it, the best song of this record is, without a shadow of a doubt, In/Out, this track gives us a consistent baseline, interesting lyrics and the use of faders within the synth makes this tune an explosion of energy, it's just one of those songs that need a pair of headphones for optimal listening. My least favourite song would be, "Wanna Know", it's not a bad song but I believe it breaks the consistency of the rest of the album, with a BPM that sways from the rest of the tracks, it's a welcome mix up, but it's based on personal preference in this case. However altogether this album is the perfect debut for any artist, as it has no bad songs and it portrays the potential this young man has.

I rated this a 5/5 because of it's varying styles, quality music, and potential, and I can guarantee a lot of people would disagree, but we have to look at this in terms of this being a debut album, which is highly different from an established artist with four albums already. This a highly recommendable album and this review is your excuse to buy it, I can whole heartedly say that you will love it, and a small piece of trivia: The title track from this record is included on the Grand Theft Auto 5 soundtrack, he's got to be doing something right if that's the case, right?

Hummable tunes, great musicianship and arrangements, and lovely vocals and harmonies.
Intelligent, enjoyable and fun music that is deceptively simple but beautifully crafted.