Saul Damelyn not only creates music, but he also creates music about creating music…how meta is that? What I mean is that he is drawn to writing about the artistic life, about pursuing dreams, finding yourself through creativity, and, once found, being true to yourself. He is also an advocate of the idea that following your dreams is not restricted by age, that music is not just a younger person’s game. And quite right too.
Kings, Queens and Dream Machines, this second album, kicks off with a great slice of pop-rock in the form of “Museum of Love,” a boy-girl duet about…well, I think it is about inspiration and embracing the things that make you happy, the things you love, in this case, and more specifically, all the things that music can afford us…but you might read something different into it, that’s the great thing about music, don’t you think?
And if that opener shows that Damelyn has a fondness for a sort of roots-rock-infused, new wave sound, “Back to the Start (Music in the Stars)” blends a more alt-pop vibe with bluesy breaks.
“King Kinky Shoes” wraps resonant, surf-rock twang around a more modern sound; the wonderfully named “Jelly of Her Memories” is a gorgeously nostalgic torch song, Phoebe White, who takes the lion’s share of the vocal duties on the album, sounding particularly and exquisitely impressive here.
By contrast, “Mathematical Love” sees Saul vocally fronting a wonderful piece of grinding and groovy, sonically Anglo-centric post-punk-pop, sitting somewhere between the likes of Elvis Costello and Nikki Sudden. And there are far worse places to be!
Pop and rock have always made for uneasy bedfellows, the former often taking the sting out of the latter, and in return, the latter often obscuring the easy melody of the former. What Saul Damelyn proves with Kings, Queens and Dream Machines, is that in the right hands, those two often opposite camps can combine to become more than the sum of their individual parts…much more. And his are the right hands!
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