Tom Minor’s last single, “Bad Life,” might be as sonically different from this new one, “It’s the Wind Stupid,” as it is possible to get, yet singles are connected by a similar lyrical astuteness. The common factor here is an urban poeticism allows you to appreciate the words as an art form in their own right, something I hope for in every song I encounter but rarely get from any. So hurrah for Tom Minor.
Where the previous song seemed to drive, this one drifts, where his “Bad Life” bundled, barrelled, and bounced along; this time out, the music is carried aloft by the wind itself blowing along the underpasses and alleyways, through the thoroughfares and mews of the British capital. But no matter which sort of musical vehicle his words hitch a ride with, there is always a wonderful sense of place in the lyrics. The sound of the music might be quintessentially English but the lyrics themselves are unquestionably London.
A tale of a chance encounter on the train as it heads out of the capital and into the Home Counties, a musical play in its own right sitting somewhere between Bank and Barking stopping at Morrissey and Bleasdale, “It’s the Wind, Stupid,” is everything I love about the kitchen sink drama put to music, those small vignettes of everyday, scenes and scenarios that are going on all around us, that are both everything and nothing at the same time. Add to that humor and wry observation, poeticism and poise, understatement and gentle sonics; it is Englishness to a T.
