There was definitely a time in my life when I’d go ga-ga for anything Bryce Avary did. Just look at my reviews for some of The Rocket Summer‘s older work – five star reviews knocking about all over the place. His summery, sugary piano pop just struck the right chord, with more singalongs than Ke$ha’s album. I think as I’ve grown a bit older I’ve found myself pulling away from the saccharine sweet melodies to music that’s a bit tougher around the edges. ‘Of Men and Angels’ doesn’t exactly disappoint, it’s just not as strong as some of his earlier work. There’s no ‘Brat Pack’, for instance. This is certainly more grown up and this record, in places, sounds absolutely massive (‘Walls’ is layered to the hilt but sounds majestic for it). But as an overall package this really does feel a bit too slick and less fun.
Bryce has a formula that works for him and over the course of his career he’s barely deviated from it. The songs are based around his very melodic vocals and (mostly) upbeat piano riffs (can you have riffs on a piano?). ‘Of Men and Angels’ isn’t quite as upbeat or as poppy which, in places anyway, works very well. It’s less instant too, which also works in places. ‘Pull Myself Together’ is one of the best songs and is a real slow-burner that gets better with every listen. ‘Hills and Valleys’ is one of the songs that could have been taken from earlier albums, while ‘Tara, I’m Terrible’ is stripped down but actually works well.
Without wanting to sound all ‘punx’, the overall feel I get from this record is that it’s typical major label fodder. It’s a bit too shiny and a bit too slick. I think it takes away a little bit too much of the charm that made me love The Rocket Summer in the first place. Everything is all still there and I get the impression fans will still love this, but I just don’t think it works quite as well as it should. This is a good record, it’s just not a great one.