Mike Bones
Like some of the greatest artists that have ever lived, Mike Bones feels pain, feels anguish, a yearning for love, and has a past filled with drug addiction and loneliness. And what better therapy for that is there than song writing?
Already having built a reputation as one of the finest guitarists in New York City, he certainly seems to have the right package for an upcoming artist. His debut solo album A Fool For Everyone is host to a self confession of melancholy, hurt and ultimately, a wise honest and adult perspective of the world, similar to that of Radiohead’s earlier albums, where the attitude is a sombre one, but with a reassurance that at least we are not the one singing these woes.
Released by Vice Records, commonly associated with independent artists who for one reason or another might be cultish misfits, but nonetheless extremely talented, Mike Bones appears to have hit the jackpot . Considering he got the title of greatest guitarist in New York however, Bones is modest in how he plays on this record. Attention is given to the lyrics and not his beloved strings, and although gentle 5 second guitar solos are carefully dotted around the album, most notable in the second half of the album, perhaps we haven’t seen the best of him yet.
Of course, to stick a minute long guitar shredding solo amongst the calm on his album would make for a terrible inaccuracy on the album, but certainly not dull. A quietly aggressive guitar solo does sneak in on the other hand; ironically, on track 8 entitled Give Up On Guitars. Proving clever not just with his song crafting, but also in their names, it would be unfair not to give this album the time of day.
Although better known as Mike Strallow, from his appearances in New York, this is in fact his real name. Changing to Mike Bones on A Fool For Everyone shows his separation from previous projects. Although the acclaimed album The Sky Beneath the Seas was well acclaimed, Mike Bones obviously wishes to stand alone, with his guitar, and he truly stands tall in all of his unconventional glory.
The album is generally self-deprecating in more songs than not. Although One Moment’s Place is slightly catchy, with a tempo that is up as well as its attitude, the follow up track of the albums same name, A Fool For Everyone, is a song so suffocated by the blues with lines such as “my looks aren’t what they used to be†that you could easily mistake the lyricist as a dying old man. Saying this however, there is luckily a light at the end of the tunnel, you just have to look for it. In What I Have Left, due to be Mike Bones’ first UK solo single, a steady beat opens the track sounding as steady and forceful as a steam train, going full on towards a build up, building speed, momentum, and also emotion as he goes. Ending in a spine-tingling crescendo of strings and piano taps amongst his strumming, for a first timer, A Fool For Everyone is an outstandingly good start to his solo career, which makes you want to give Mike Bones a big fat congratulatory hug, and tell him he’s got nothing to be sad about.
Skip to – What I Have Left
Rating – 4/5
By Karen Asbury