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Fyfe is the new name being used by 23-year-old Manchester University graduate Paul Dixon, who we wrote about in this column back in July
2010 when he was known as David's Lyre. DL's credits included one excellent song, Tear Them Down, a spate of cover versions (of Ellie
Goulding, among others), remixes of tracks by Marina and the Diamonds and Everything Everything, and a debut album, Picture of Our Youth,
which was self-released via Bandcamp in February 2012 after Dixon got dropped by his major label, despite rave reviews.
Dixon is still backwards about coming forwards - he covered h ...read more
Fyfe is the new name being used by 23-year-old Manchester University graduate Paul Dixon, who we wrote about in this column back in July
2010 when he was known as David's Lyre. DL's credits included one excellent song, Tear Them Down, a spate of cover versions (of Ellie
Goulding, among others), remixes of tracks by Marina and the Diamonds and Everything Everything, and a debut album, Picture of Our Youth,
which was self-released via Bandcamp in February 2012 after Dixon got dropped by his major label, despite rave reviews.
Dixon is still backwards about coming forwards - he covered his face in the Tear Them Down video with a mask and now he's being
photographed either from behind or the side, seemingly with his hair slicked back with a lick of paint. And it's still proving hard to categorise
him. When we wrote about David's Lyre we filed him next to Wild Beasts and Associates - with purveyors of the ornate and full-blown, bands
whose music can't easily be tied to one genre. This time, there have been comparisons with everyone from electronic/folk singer-songwriter
Patrick Wolf to Miike Snow, the Swedish production team behind Britney Spears' Toxic who, when they make music of their own, sound, well,
nothing like Britney's Toxic.
In the interests of full disclosure, when we heard the tracks on Fyfe's debut EP, Solace, we didn't recognize them as the work of Paul Dixon,
but now that we know it's him, we must admit, there is some similarity. A certain florid approach to arrangements and an atmosphere that
could perhaps be described as overheated. Words such as "grandiose" have been used in reviews of Solace and now of new track St Tropez.
Solace features Strawberry Fields Forever mellotron (with an attendant "living isn't easy" reference in the opening line) and a reverb-y guitar
figure, and it builds, via some quasi-choral keyboards, towards a lush climax. St Tropez showcases Dixon's unusual high voice – almost a
crooner's voice, only more quixotic than that sounds. The backing is sparse to start, with "ooh-oohs" that tug at the heartstrings, before
becoming more rhythmic and symphonic, with swelling horns as part of an already busy mix. But maybe not that strange – early indications
are that Fyfe is going to cross over in a way that David's Lyre didn't, with high Hype Machine placings and 100,000 plays of each of the EP's
main tracks on SoundCloud.
As of March 2015, Fyfe has released his debut LP, Control.
[TheGuardian] « hide |
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