Love Fame Tragedy - Wherever I Go, I Want To Leave (Review)
I remain stubbornly unconvinced by Matt Murphy's side project...
10th July 2020
Good Soldier
My Rating:
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3.3
/10
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REVIEW
I remain unconvinced by Matt Murphy's side project, something unfortunate given the 17 (yes, 17) songs included on this debut album, none of which particularly connected or appealed to me past the odd catchy chorus or interesting beat. For those of you that don't know, Love Fame Tragedy is the solo but collaboration-heavy side project of The Wombats' frontman Matt Murphy, and this album comes rather briefly after a year of releasing various singles and EPs, those songs now having ended up together on this frustratingly long album. Aside from reviewing the first single "My Cheating Heart" way back last year, I mostly didn't care to hear the slew of other material from the project, catching a track or two here and there and remaining unimpressed and uninterested. Were my opinions swayed by the album as a whole?
My problems with this album begin with the production, as well as the direction of the drums on this album. To first address the drums, I feel obliged to point out how confused they come across, jumping between being unimpactful and buried in the mix of the more rock-oriented songs, and coming across as awfully processed and fake on the poppier tracks. The issue here isn't the inconsistency whatsoever, but how neither option is at all fulfilling or complimentary to the songs they appear on.
Now, in terms of the production, the album has a habit of feeling constantly cluttered and overstuffed, something that contrasts poorly with the simple beats and resulting in a frustratingly messy sound. Due to this, it's the guitars that suffer the most, lacking the punch they would have if they had more space in the mix, and always feeling squashed and metallic. It's a problem not shared with any of Matt's albums with The Wombats, and I think that's extremely telling as to the quality level this album operates on.
Listening through the album is tedious enough due to the length, but this is further emphasised by the wait until track 7 for anything worthwhile with the song "Everything Affects Me Now", the first track here that isn't tainted by insufferable lyrics or the instrumentally bland failings of the songs preceding it. Unfortunately, this track is something of an anomaly, and immediately after you're submerged once again by the murky production and unlikeable lyrics that dominate the album.
All this does present a question though, that being why on Earth is Matt's writing so uncharacteristically weak here? One thing that always stood out about The Wombats, obnoxious as they could be, was how witty and entertaining the lyrics always were, a night and day difference to the self-pity and pathetic musings that perpetrate Wherever I Go, I Want To Leave. Of course, it's a style of writing that can definitely work, but the framing so often fails it here, leaving the lyrics and storytelling consequently cringy and rushed, the odd great metaphor drowned out by clichés and attempts at pretentiousness that fall very flat.
All in all, this album's little appeal is overshadowed by far too many elements that just don't work, and it lacks in the usual redeeming features that similar artists occasionally benefit from. Personally, there isn't anything here that makes me hope for any more from Love Fame Tragedy, and I wouldn't complain if they chose never to follow this album up. I can't recommend this to anyone, not even for fans of The Wombats or Matt Murphy.
TRACK RATINGS (/10)
1. 5150 - 3
2. My Cheating Heart - 3
3. Pills - 1
4. Body Parts - 3
5. Multiply - 2
6. Hardcore - 3
7. Everything Affects Me Now - 5
8. You Take the Fun out of Everything - 3
9. Please Don't Murder Me (Part 2) - 4
10. Backflip - 6
11. Sharks - 5
12. B-Team - 3
13. Pink Mist - 3
14. Honeypie - 6
15. The Sea Is Deep and the World Is Wide - n/a
16. Riding A Wave - 3
17. Brand New Brain - 3
BREAKDOWN
Ambition: 6
Atmosphere: 3
Catchiness/Enjoyability: 2
Content/Ideas: 5
Emotion/Engaging: 2
Execution: 3
Production: 2
Structure: 2
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Lyrics: 3
Vocals/Flows: 5
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Total: 33
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