I hadn’t come across East London-based Josh Collins before writing this review, so by way of research I listened first to his debut album “Porky Pies” (2017). With just five songs and lasting all of eighteen minutes it offers a tantalising insight into a young artist with a versatile voice and some talent as an acoustic guitarist; a range of influences are evident including Latin and Blues. The lyrics are punchy – if occasionally a bit coarse – as Collins explores various experiences of love and relationships and the album as a whole is polished and well-produced.
Two and a half years on from “Porky Pies”, I was interested to see how Collins would tackle the subject of that time in a young man’s life – his mid-twenties – when he realises that the laddishness of youth has to finally give way to the reality of adult responsibilities.
I have to say that, after “Porky Pies”, “Mid Twenties” comes as something of a disappointment. Collins’ vocal versatility is still there but the guitar accompaniment is limited to rather basic finger-picking. Worse, the quality of lyrics has taken a nose-dive:
“I wish I could drive a carTo get us from A to B.
We could go over land or seas [sic]You and I together…”
That’s just the start of a rather banal couple of minutes in which Collins informs us that he’s getting high in the shed because it’s too wet to smoke outside amongst other lowlights punctuated by the most grating and unnecessarily-affected glottal stops. There is a “T” in the middle of the word “twenties”, but you wouldn’t know it from listening to this song!
I’ve listened to “Mid Twenties” a dozen times in the hope of finding something in it to draw upon as positive or hopeful but I can’t. Far from being a celebration of adulthood, this song is really rather juvenile and dull.
Reviewer - Ian Simpson
on - 4/5/20
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