KULAS : ANOTHER SMALL MACHINE REVIEW

by One Of The Three

From talking to Mike at various points since him joining James, the conversation always came round to a second album and the usual response was that he was working on tracks of his own all the time and was planning to put something out for "friends and family". Another Small Machine, the results of this, is certainly an exclusive release, available only in HMV shops in Canada and through their website.  Due to James commitments, there will be no promotion of the album.

So what it is like? The immediate impression of the album is how relaxed it is compared to Mike's debut Mosquito. Most of the tracks sound as if they were conceived late one night at home in a secluded Scottish cottage with nothing but an acoustic guitar. 

Lyrical themes are very simple - life and love and its ups and downs and the album benefits as a whole from it.  Song structures are very traditional - verse, chorus, verse, chorus, refrain, chorus. The album clocks in at 36 minutes but this seems like a perfect length with no attempt to pad it out with filler tracks.

Another Small Machine, the opener, is a puzzler. A minute and a quarter of music with a repeating mantra chant over the top. I'm not sure why it's there.

Anyone Else is one of the rockier tracks on the album and closer to Mosquito than any of the other tracks, dealing with a man who keeps returning to a woman who treats him badly but he is drawn back.

Beautiful Day is about, well, a beautiful day. Simple and plainitive.  She's All The Rage is about a woman who is centre of the attention who plays on men's desire for her and toys with them. The half-spoken lyrics and understated backing track merely adds to the effect and the message.

The Only One is a beautiful almost acoustic paean to a friend who has stood by the subject of the song despite personal problems. Sleep, another almost acoustic track, is told to a child unaware of what is going on around them seeking to put them at ease.

Beginning Of The End  is a more traditional rockier song and again would not be out of place on Mosquito. Having And Losing It All resorts to the more relaxed mood of the earlier tracks, a reflection on the past and how things can change from good to bad.

Gone Away Song is another quietly spoken lament about a partner who has left but has not been forgotten and is possibly the best song on the album. Shine opens with a beautiful piano backing track which fits in beautifully with a lyric about being trapped and falling to pieces.

Another Small Machine does not pretend to be anything but an album Mike has made for himself. He has no financial need to make it and I would imagine it won't make him much money. What it does do is to allow him to express his obvious musical talents through a medium of his own rather than in the sometimes claustrophobic atmosphere of a seven-piece band. He plays all the instruments on the album. It's a very personal statement, but yet it's very simple in its construction. And that's the ultimate beauty of the album.