Review Summary: 'Tomorrow is another day' was a long time coming but Paul Berry's third album was worth the wait
It’s been a while since his last album appeared but Paul Berry has eventually followed up 2008’s ‘Slow motion pictures’ with something new and a bit different to his last outing.
You can get some idea of what’s to come from the artwork; a partially sunlit alleyway with a tree behind trapped behind wire. Dark and light is very much the order of the day. The aggressive album opener ‘The end of your world’ features military-like pounding guitars and synths...but it doesn't set the tone as it gives way to the almost folktronik ‘You can cry now’.
The problem with genre classification is that it doesn’t work with everyone, and Paul Berry is a perfect example, though that’s no bad thing. You think you have pinned him down as electronica with the icy chill of the superb ghostly ballad and claustrophobic beat of ‘shoreline’ (the album highlight for me) then the pure and simple pop of ‘Eliza Candy’ lifts you with its strummed acoustics and soaring chorus. It's the sort of track you'd imagine Ed Sheeran releasing - and being a hit - if he went and bought some analog synths.
Paul’s influences are clear from his previous two albums and are still there for all to see. ’Sweet little demons’ screams Depeche Mode ‘Ultra’ era with it's sweeping electronics and pulsing beats, ‘Sleeping’ has early 80s OMD DNA running all the way through it, and the anthemic, dystopian roar of ‘Kiss the night’ echoes ‘With teeth’ era Nine Inch Nails.
If anything, ‘Tomorrow is another day’ offers something more concise (a couple more tracks would have been welcome), diverse and approachable when compared to Paul’s previous offerings. Is it synthpop, folktronik, electronica or darkwave? You decide.
www.paulberrymusic.co.uk
