September 04, 2015

Richard Lomax & The Tontine: Down There For Dancing

photo: Shay Rowan
BEST OF 2015
17
HCTF

Mancunian multi-instrumentalist Richard Lomax is a bit of an eccentric. His musical weapon of choice is the Omnichord, an electronic string emulating gizmo manufactured by Suzuki in the early Eighties. Its timbre is a perfect vehicle for his quintessentially English pop tunes in the tradition of Ray Davies, Lloyd Cole and Jarvis Cocker.

Formerly the leader of Johnny5thWheel&thecowards he assembled another band of merry men dubbed The Tontine to back him up on his latest album Down There For Dancing. A collection of energetic melancholy and vice versa. Lomax always keeps a firm grip on his material, whether is the slide guitar driven rocker Set Me Free of surf-enhanced vaudeville put-down song Wag the Wonderbitch.

Even when Lomax gets mad at someone, like he does in Every Fucker Fucks You (so why not fuck them first?), he picks up a scalpel instead of an axe, wrapping his wrath in an aloof manner plus a some memorable guitar outbursts - efficiency superseding blind fury. Down There For Dancing is an album for those who have going through a rough patch or are just game for a dozen of fine examples of superior songwriting. Incidentally; there is no hint of Hotel California in Hotel X, but there are plenty in the album's closer Wellness. Which makes perfect sense.

Richard Lomax & The Tontine:
Richard Lomax: vocals, guitar, Omnichord, organ
Si Borkin: electric bass
Cleg: guitar
Oli Hughes: drums
Kev Morel: percussion, backing vocals
Phill Howley: percussion
Joel Roberts: upright bass on Wellness
Clement Neveu: electric bass on Glamour

Down There For Dancing is a self-released album. Buy it from their website. The CD version features actual laces.

Tracks:
  1. Glamour
  2. Jennifer
  3. Vodka Stomach
  4. Windmills
  5. Set Me Free
  6. Wag the Wonderbitch
  7. Look! Who's Sorry Now?
  8. Bleary
  9. Every Fucker Fucks You (so why not fuck them first?)
  10. Habit of a Lunchtime
  11. Hôtel X
  12. Wellness

Live dates:
  • 09/04 Salford, UK @ The King's Arms
  • 10/09 Genoa, Italy @ Giardini Luzzati
  • 10/11 Trieste, Italy @ Tetris
  • 10/17 Manchester, UK @ A Carefully Planned Festival

» richardlomaxmusic.com

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