Vinnie & the Stars - Swings & Roundabouts (Involv Records)

Vinnie & the Stars

Swings & Roundabouts

(Involv Records)

The back bone of this album is the very melodic, soft and aptly repetitive bluesy, folksy and jazzy guitar riffs and drum beats. With some excellent piano, woodwind and bass work thrown in on top of this the instrumentals are on every track either beautifully relaxing or unbelievably catchy. However, the vocals, for the most part, are reminiscent of Goldie Looking Chain, reminding listeners that although it is funny when white English men rap it doesn’t exactly make for enjoyable listening.

With many of the tracks; especially track 5; ‘Wasting Time’ track 7; ‘The Guy Next Door’ and track 10; ‘Small Things’, the initial melody grabs your attention and puts you in a state of relaxation you tend to feel listening to the likes of Frank Sinatra’s ‘Something Stupid’ and then you find yourself just willing the vocals to stay away.

If the vocals were taken out or made softer and less prominent this would be a fantastic chill out or instrumental album but unfortunately it falls just short of being great.  

Matthew Read