I’ve been listening to modern soul/blues a lot since I fall in love. I decided I was going to digress a little and check out the world music scene. Most of the artists I found are really crappy, they go for either the homoerotic Mika type high pitch ballads or the accidental gay themed ablums of James blunt. They remind me of Japanese geishas and Vai mating music.
Anyway, I am listening Paolo Nutini right now and I think this Scottish kid have some real potential. A little pubertal lyrically but he carries off his songs with an assurance you normally don’t see in a 19 year old, not the material confidence ala Britney spears and her ilk but a mental one. There’s a hint of conviction and really honest performance in him that he makes the oddly juvenile songs feel like good poems that you want to show off to your friends. Makes you think about how much of music is effected by the aesthetic aspect of it.
Nutini’s greatest strength I think is his voice, smooth, slow and lazily scratchy, perfect for a soul love song. This is not to say his music is all that bad either, I enjoyed the simple riff of “Jenny Don’t Be Hasty” and I would add “last request” to a mix cd for Mp without a second thought. He’s not the best obviously but one of the more listenable artist out there.
Click on the picture above to watch Paolo singing "jenny don't be hasty" from his album "These Streets"
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