iliketrains – 'Progress Reform' review
Sammy Cahn, Sinatra’s legendary lyricist, famously craved only one thing in his songs – a quality he called “singability”, an effortlessness interaction of vocals with the rest of the song. All good songs possess singability, regardless of genre, he argued. Unfortunately, Progress Reform possesses the polar opposite: vocals so embarrassingly theatrical and humourless that one is left hoping that they’re a piss-take.
A purely instrumental version of Progress Reform would constitute a rather pleasing, Mogwai-meets-Mercury Rev experiment. However, the record as it stands – and especially the closing track – is an unwittingly hilarious exercise in taking everything far too seriously.
4/10
