Nothing makes me feel older than listening to an Alex Cameron album. I mean, I just don't get it. Is Cameron making bad Eighties-style synth-pop on purpose? Is he playing a character? Is he serious? Is this just a shtick? It's a lot of work listening to this cat, and rarely if ever do I come away feeling like my time has been well-spent. Still, in the interest of accentuating the positive, I can say that, at least musically, the new Alex Cameron album, Miami Memory, contains tunes that are more enjoyable, even if the lyrics render the record an elaborate put-on. Out on Friday via Secretly Canadian, the LP is at least marginally compelling. In small, small doses.
Still, it's hard to keep a straight face when Cameron sings, "Eating your ass like an oyster..." on the title cut, or "Far from born again, she's doing porn again..." on "Far From Born Again", a cut with a title that promises more than Cameron is capable of delivering. Still, for all that nonsense, "Other Ladies" has a nice, lazy charm about it, such that it resembles, however faintly something from Lowell George or Graham Parker from the Seventies. Elsewhere, "End is Nigh", terrible lyrics aside, sees the usual synth bombast toned down just enough for something sweetly melodic to shine through. Mind you, none of this is what I'd call "essential", but at least on Miami Memory, Cameron seems to be taking more care with his music. Even if the words still are puerile and the worst kind of ironic pastiche of hoary rock tropes one's likely to ever hear in 2019.
Miami Memory is out on Friday via Secretly Canadian.
More details on Alex Cameron via his official Facebook page.
[Photo: Chris Rhodes]