Description
Nerds & Music – All at Sea by Chris Spencer I confess to changing my mind about this cd after repeated listenings.
After the initial listen, I wasn’t very impressed, but when taking a bit more time to listen to the cd, I came to enjoy the cd more.
Nerds & Music are an acoustic folk duo, whose lo-fi recording suits their name.
In some ways they tread a similar path to Tripod and Flight of the Conchords.
Their background accompaniment is kept simple, just a strumming acoustic guitar for the most part which at times becomes a bit mundane, but fi ts in with their concept of being ‘nerdy’.
On a couple of ‘tunes’ there are crooning harmonies in the background, but these seem more in keeping with parodying classic arrangements rather than adding to the sound.
A couple of inspired moments include a segue into a Hunters & Collectors’ song in the middle of “The Octopus Song”, a send up of people’s fascination with whales and dolphins.
“Nothing Much” features the kazoo and phrases that contradict each other, such as ‘I was indecisive but now I’m not so sure’.
“Copious Notes” may find a few laughs among workers in the public service; The humour is more of the kind of a wry smile, than belly laughing.
The most obvious ‘funny’ song is “Geez I Like Your Grass” which makes fun of people in the suburbs with their manicured lawns although I suspect it could be about the other grass that people smoke… “Do Something Different Today” starts out as a serious song about making changes, until a verse about talking to a dog causes the song to be a bit absurd.
“Springtime Blues” is about hayfever – it actually features some ‘nice’ acoustic guitar playing.
“Megan the Vegan” tells the tale of the singer asking out a girl who works at the driveway service of a take away food outlet.
“White Collar Blues” is written in the blues genre; “The Brown Song” sends up trendy people’s predilection with wearing black; “Metaphor Man” creates a few smiles with the mixing of metaphors – it also has a harmonica accompaniment.
“Ragtime” the last tune, is an instrumental ….
rag! I suggest you wait until you see Clark Gormley and Wayne Thompson – who comprise Nerds & Music – before embarking on purchasing this cd.
Your reaction to them live might be a better indication of whether you enjoy this cd.
