Neil Marsden – MANCHESTER (Album Review)

Today, we will chance upon an award-winning singer-songwriter based in Manchester. He is none other than Neil Marsden. Neil has a passion for creating melodies accompanied by strong lyrical content. His lyrics touch upon widely accessible and relatable subject matters such as love, loss, mental health, humanity, and a slice of life.

In terms of professional recognition, he is currently signed to WSP on a song licensing agreement for media categories in Film, TV and Gaming. He also has a background in the Manchester music scene dating back to the eighties.

His newest release, titled ‘Manchester’, is a compilation of released singles with two acoustic tracks to complement the whole body of work.

Manchester can be accessed here.

I can definitely hear why he has a licensing agreement, as a lot of the tracks on the release are very well-mastered and have an emotional tone that could definitely accompany delicate scenes within visual media. His vocal tone reminds me of the vocalists in Tears for Fears or the lead singer of Depeche Mode- emotional and sombre with a masculine strength and definition to it.

The album is fairly interesting, presenting itself subconsciously as an umbrella of a compilation of softer rock genres in the past 50 years- some tracks genuinely have a more folksy twang to them, with the mastering to complement it, while some tracks can have a more 90s indie rock flair to it. The instrumentation tends to be quite varied, with an adequate twist to it, but falls flat with how monotonous and single-toned it can be interpreted as. I’m particularly honing in on the interpretation, as there’s music that can be analysed within the lens of music theory and musicology- with both nodes not necessarily intersecting when it comes to novelty and capturing human attention.

Tracks like ‘Hello Hello’ bear a more mod aesthetic to it, giving it a sentimental but carefree, happy-go-lucky feel, reminding me of songs like ‘Holiday’ by the Bee Gees. However, what I mentioned in the previous paragraph can perhaps be expanded upon more by this analogy: the instrumentation is full and lively, but the vocal work does not necessarily add more or less motivic variation compared to Holiday. This, I would say, is where it falls flat on.

However, I will definitely state without any doubt that the instrumentation and arrangement entirely makes up for what is lacking in vocal variation. This is apparent in the track ‘Castles in the Sand’, with a delicate and apparent string section giving the song a bit more of a sentimental and orchestral feel in the midst of the acoustic soundscape.

The symbiosis of his vocals and the instrumentation seems to shine the most in tracks like ‘Love is an Island’, in which the vocals take on a heavier tone to match the intensity of the backing track as well. It has a Beatles-esque feel to it, and can definitely have crossover appeal, sounding like a song that would definitely resonate most with people, as well as a high potential for people to sing along to.

Unfortunately, I have to say that the album eventually falls into predictability and doesn’t necessarily stand out within the rest of the tracks. A bit of genre fusion or variation within the vocals would’ve helped spark some kind of excitement within the listening experience of the album. It’s not necessarily a ‘bad’ album, but more must be done to definitely elevate it into a higher echelon, which I think Neil Marsden is completely able to achieve. This release is a great start, and I hope to hear more from him.

SCORE/Good: Neil Marsden delivers with a safe collection of heartfelt music with his newest release, ‘Manchester’. It has a bit of interesting inter-genre expansion within the world of soft rock and lush instrumentation, with the vocals being passable. For the first body of work I have heard from him, this is a good first step.

[We rank singles, EPs, and albums on a scale of Poor, Mediocre, Good, Excellent, and Outstanding]

Follow Neil Marsden on:

Twitter
Facebook
Instagram