Artists like Billy Bragg and more recently, Frank Turner, have inspired people to pick up a guitar, put pen to paper and sing about what they believe in. ADAM BENNETT is clearly one of the inspired. On this release, ‘These Machines’, Adam puts his views across in four acoustic folk ditties which are a little rough around the edges. The songs here are live versions, the acoustics sound a little bit like it was recorded on the toilet and it’s not entirely in tune. It’s pretty raw. It’s sort of what folk and punk are all about though, isn’t it?
It may be raw but it’s sincere. It sounds more like Defiance, Ohio or Against Me!’s early Acoustic EP than it does Frank Turner, particularly in the raspy, slightly out-of-tune vocals and the aggressive strumming but it still retains a British charm. Lyrically, it’s all politics and social commentary, but it’s quite cliché’d. It’s hard to recommend this EP because, although it’s not bad, it’s not that inspired either. There are plenty of people doing this kind of thing already and doing it much better.
MICHAEL WILSON