Man & The Echo – Men of the Moment
Man & The Echo joyfully skewer modern masculinity on their latest album
The present-day alpha male is an infamous beast.
Read a paper, watch the news, they’re everywhere you look. They can be mostly found tripping over their own tongues, struggling somewhere in the limbo between heartfelt apology and digging a hole twice as deep. But never fear, Man & The Echo are here to deflate these windbags with their witty lyricism and gleaming art-pop sing-alongs.
Men Of The Moment, the second album from the Warrington four-piece, is presented as an unsettling musical of sorts, minus the jazz hands. Each track is written from the perspective of some rather unsavoury characters, putting lead vocalist Gaz firmly into some very ill-fitting shoes. As he says himself:
“I think it was a good way of challenging views that are not my own: inhabiting them in order to ridicule them.”
Lead single “Capable Man” is a perfect example of this. Backed by a water-tight rhythm section and new wave guitar riffs, this is an anthem dedicated to the ill-informed, pompous brutes that we have all encountered at some time in our lives. It’s not all ridicule and finger jabbing though, there are hints of empathy that lie between the clever take downs. Tracks such as “Life On An Island” and “Toast” portray these men as lost souls, often misled by their own self doubt and insecurity.
The album darts from uplifting pop, staggering skits and after-hours croons, all steered by the masterful production of Raf Rundell (one half of The 2 Bears), adding his own gristly overcoat to the album’s finer edges. With political parody master Coldwar Steve also onboard for the album artwork, this band of merry men are fully equipped to poke holes within the absurdity of modern life and the deluded individuals that wander aimlessly through it.
