LITTLE MAN

This "Pineapple Thief" album is probably their darkest one so far (for obvious reasons already mentioned by some fellow reviewers). Inevitably the filiation with "Radiohead" is obvious: but there is nothing new here. Even if PT can't be considered as a clone, their music has always have shown this similarity.

I have to say that to listen for about an hour to this melancholic rock album is at times not very rewarding and the feel of déjà vu is increasing along after that each of the track is being played.

Very little originality, no surprise: a conventional PT album should I say. It is hard to be focused all the way through but I consider it as a good album while experiencing a "casual" listening. What I mean is that there is nothing wrong with this album but you can easily do something else while listening to it (I usually don't do that while listening to music, except while I'm driving).

A couple of fine pieces ("Dead In The Water", "Wilting Violet") do increase the quality of this "Little Man" which is a personal and sad affair for Bruce. He puts lots of emotion in his vocal parts but at times he is too languishing like during "Wait" which almost sounds as a "Muse" ballad. I quite like the second instrumental part though which is more upbeat. One of the longest track ("Run A Mile") sounds a bit loose but holds some more upbeat musical sections which are very much welcome to break the sad and melancholic feeling ("Little Man", "November").

The short and heavy "God Bless The Children" is best avoided (but it only lasts for about two minutes) and the end of the album shows again the same "Radiohead" sounds: a moving "Snowdrops" still does belong to the best available. The long and closing "We Love You" is a fine crescendo tune (yes, I like crescendos) that ends up in a very melodic and instrumental section.

A good album after all.