George FitzGerald – 'Fading Love' review
With Fading Love, George FitzGerald (the upper-case ‘G’ in his surname is apparently important) joins that tradition of big-room DJs who discover too late that producing an album of original material requires an entirely different set of musical sensibilities to the ones needed for banging out a hands-in-the-air set at Ministry.
It’s not that FitzGerald lacks production chops – much here sounds exquisite, with warmth, depth and a carefully assembled propulsion throughout. Instead, the problem lies in the songs – that most basic requirement of albums – and the fact that on a ten-song album, Fading Love is about nine short: with the exception of the treacly, moreish Full Circle – all sleepy-sultry vocals and deep house lushness – nothing captures the imagination. Pallid instrumental tracks meander with the inventiveness of a one-fingered teenager who’s just opened GarageBand, while elsewhere shots at Underworld’s deliciously airless sleaze miss drearily, sounding no more libidinous than someone muttering in the queue for the night bus.
FitzGerald omitted early bangers Child and Feel Like from Fading Love for fear that their two-step call-backs, snatched vocal samples and filigree sweetness would unbalance the surrounding seriousness – and in that respect at least Fading Love has a consistent mood. But in stripping out the head-nodding pep, and all its attendant joy, FitzGerald has robbed himself of his most deadly weapon, leaving Fading Love like an over-heavy gun that’s firing blanks.
4/10
