Review by Robert O’Connor
With all the quirkiness, image obsession, characters and commercialism in music these days, we very often miss some of the simple, stripped back talent that’s right in front of our eyes. Bands who don’t set out to make you support charities or change the world and ones who’ve managed to avoid the manufactured droid dominated pop machine waiting to pick and tear apart anything remotely worth buying. The Near Future may not be ready to conquer the world but their debut EP, A Little Understanding offers a refreshing break from all the noise out there.
Mixing trip hop/ pop and reggae wouldn’t normally be a style that would strike you as viable but The Near Future have it working quite well here. The E.P.’s flagship track, A Little Understanding is nothing more than good old nineties style soulful pop. It’s fantastically upbeat, happy and charming. Louis Murphy’s vocals pour over the music with a soothing, diverse and ear catching ring. A bona fide pop hit for your listening pleasure.
Blue Skies on the other hand is a tad too generic and you spend the whole song waiting for the line “Ooh-oo child, things are gonna get easier”. Remember doesn’t offer much either with Louis’s vocals losing their perfect power and some of the choruses almost verging on out of tune. A funky bass makes it more appealing than Blue Skies but doesn’t cover up the mostly characterless body.
Such A Sad Song introduces the first proper Hip-Hop / Reggae vibe with Laura’s voice and the band regaining that smooth, note perfect skill of A Little Understanding but cutting out the repetitive pop monotony of Blue Skies and Remember. Setting aside any mention of the word pop, Such A Sad Song is a real soulful piece of music worth credit in any ones book. There’s no association here to any influence, just enough of everything for everyone to like….except Cannibal Corpse fanatics, they probably won’t get into it.
Cut You Down finishes the E.P on a fairly positive note. It doesn’t reach the highs of Such A Sad Song but also doesn’t go near the lows of Remember and Blue Skies. The vocals aren’t as stand out on the choruses but the themes are much darker than any other track on the EP, once again showing diversity in the bands writing and styles. Not a bad start from the new Ireland/UK based band and some definite gems here worth looking into.