Strangers

by

Ed Harcourt

Edit

Ed Harcourt usually shows potential, but often only has a few good songs coupled with several filler tracks which are cheesy.

When I had heard Movies of Myself by Rufus Wainwright, I thought that all of his songs would sound more like Ed Harcourt's "Strangers" album. I was disappointed with the light-hearted lounge-style singing of Wainwright, but Harcourt fills in that flavor much more effectively.

In fact, somewhere between Damien Rice's "O" album and Wainwright's "Want One" is where "Strangers" resides. I think Damien Rice's music is more soulful, though.

It's a good listen overall. However, I'd recommend buying it used because it's nothing that amazing. My rating is 3.5.

three albums in and ed harcourt hasn't quite found his footing. it's not that he hasn't written some memorable tracks, because he certainly has. rather he's yet to write a memorable album. 'strangers,' however, is ed's best work to date and the closest he's come to penning a truly memorable album. it's a positive step forward from his last album 'from every sphere.'

'storm is coming' is a raucous opener and a signpost that this ed harcourt album is different from past efforts. is it a hint of things to come? maybe. it's swirling guitars and hammering paino lend a nice climactic tone to the song. 'born in the 70's' is one of ed's poppier numbers, in a good way. it's funny outro gives a nice little middle finger to anyone who finds reason to hate on the hippy decade. the album's other stand out track, 'loneliness' is another nice little pop nugget. loneliness isn't normally something to scream about, but it's nice to hear ed belt it out.

like ed's other albums, the listener gets the feeling he's just about either a) run out of ideas, or b) on the verge of clawing through to the surface of musical greatness. it's simply (as if it were indeed simple) a matter of honing on the good stuff and getting rid of the not-so-good stuff. there's a great album (and probably more than one) in ed's head, and given the rate at which he releases albums, we could only be a year or two away. let's hope so because ed's one heckuva talent.