| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Track Structure | 9 |
| Interest | 9 |
| Melody | 9 |
| Performance | 9 |
| Lyrics | 8 |
| Enjoyment | 9 |
| Recording Quality | 8 |
| Commercial Appeal | 9 |
| Overall | 8.8 |
I'm Not Listening by The Words.
The band has decided to put this in the Pop category. If only this was pop music, all would be well with the world. To me, most pop music these days is cynically made, profit seeking Boy/Girl groups and modern, highly explicit Rythym and Blues.
This fits neatly into none of those categories - Thank God for that.
I see there's a growing fan base for songs like this, so I'll let the genre placement pass, although I'd be more inclined to class this as punk or even indie...
What we're dealing with here is an ultra short (2 minutes and 6 seconds) song, without any frills whatsoever. The structure is pretty much spot on, as a song this short should be, rather like Blur's Song2, although saying that, the style of this is totally different, in it's own way.
The recording is pretty much perfect for the style, maybe the vocals could be pushed back a little to let the music shine through more, but the band has hit the nail on the head with the performance and the whole piece strongly reminds me of The Undertones, that punchy, post-punk feel that excited the listening public way back in the eighties. It seems that people are realising again that this sound is a truly classic one (myself included) and it's popularity is growing.
Vocally, again, I'm reminded of Feargal Sharkey with that distinctive, powerful, slightly nasal tenor style - a style that suits this song perfectly.
Lyrically, we're given a well written and excellently sung verse that's presented three times through the song, with varying vocal mannerisms introduced each time it's repeated. Maybe adding two more verses to the song instead of repeating the same one three times would have worked a whole lot better.
From what I can deduce, it deals with knowing someone who you really don't want to be around, but are stuck with, a situation we're all faced with from time to time
All in all, a short piece of post-punk (maybe Indie) music that hooks instantly and stays in the mind for a long while after even the first listen.
A classic track, really. Recommended.
To listen to the track Click Here