Johnny Lloyd - 'Punchline' Album Review

Tracklist:

Roller King
If You Love Them, Let Them Go
Personality Disorder
Manchester In Bloom
Bands In Economy
Love, Death, Hate, Paranoia
On The House
Paradise On A Postcard
Lifetimes
I'll Be Kind This Time

The latest solo album from Tribes frontman, Johnny Lloyd, may well be the end of January treat that you need. In contrast to the indiepoprock of Tribes, Lloyd has a bewilderingly large portfolio of stripped back and largely acoustic work, including forays into soundtracks, and more albums than you could shake an incredibly well played guitar at. If I’m going to be entirely honest, I thought I knew what I was expecting when I started listening to ‘Punchline’; this was going to be pretty, but not particularly challenging, maybe even a little 2 dimensional. And I got that. But I got so much more besides. For all the light and fluffiness, the joy and the celebration of the little things, there are deeper pools of intrigue and soul searching reflection, with plenty of shade to contrast with the light.

‘Punchline’ is a fab acoustic-ish pop-ish opener, complete with horn section and a catchy refrain, and all seems jolly well and cheerful. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that everyone would have loved an album that stuck with that vibe, and it would have been great and everything, but true beauty is best observed in 3 dimensions, and track 2, ‘If You Love Them, Let them Go’ is where the depth is added- haunting, lilting melody, triggering memories of T’XX (as we call them in Yorkshire). It’s worth noting, at this point, that there is very little in the way of percussion on this whole record- many tracks having none at all, with the bassline providing the beat. It has an incredibly intimate effect, drawing the listener in with a warm cozy audio embrace. Quite the juxtaposition then, as yet another dimension is added with track 3, ‘Personality Disorder’. Finger picking gives way to plectrum, and bassline beats to drums, as a jagged staccato opening builds to a wonderful cacophony of psychedelia. Track 4 is the fantastic ‘Manchester in Bloom’, which is probably one of the bigger hitters on this album and is sure to be well received.

There are loads of other high points; the Nick Drake-esque strings on final song, ‘I’ll be Kind This Time’, the wistful reflection of ‘Paradise on a A Postcard’, the slide guitar in ‘Bands in Economy’, and my personal favourite, the anthemic paean to not letting shit get on top of you- ‘Love, Death, Hate, Paranoia’.

What strikes me most about this whole album though, is how quickly it’s nestled into my mind, how it already feels like putting on a pair of comfy pants at the end of the day. It’s enveloping but not invasive, it’s cheerful yet melancholic… but above all that, and certainly more importantly, it’s just a really bloody good record, and it feels like it’s one that I’m going to spend a lot of time with, over the coming year.