TIM BURGESS THE ECONOMY

This is just the kind of music that you need on a sunny Wednesday evening, chilled and gentle, like the gradual drooping of the sun as it glints upon the world from sideways. Long shadows and longer cocktails. Trimmed lawns and trees waving in languid rhythms. Clouds lightly dusting the sky. Yeah, just like these things.

It's just the kind of scene that this song - 'The Economy' by Tim Burgess - serves as a rather nice soundtrack. I have to admit, when I first heard it I was like "...what" - BUT! I was soon won over by the peaceful grooves of the song, smoothed and lulled into a state of chill. Verily.

What begins as something that you could find playing in an episode of Spongebob Squarepants - y'know, cause of the particularly beach-bum, lapping-waves feel of the subtle slide guitar in the background and the general happy feel of the skiffly acoustic guitar - turns quickly into a multi-layered well-textured almost, well - probably actually, psychedelic song.

Nice eh? Really nice. You can see what I mean though, right? It does start with this Hawaiian feel, but into this really nicely built monumental psychedelic soft rock/pop rock song. The falsetto vocals throughout peek just above everything else, always remaining audible and strangely soothing, keeping to a catchy melodic pattern. But it doesn't take centre stage, and actually - nothing in this song does take centre stage. Everything works as one, each element allowing the others their own breathing space and own little chances to shine.

A 60s-hippie type vibe bemists the song when a flute begins playing, cool and reedy, weaving a breathy melody around the staple strumming pattern of the guitar. But the real surprise is a guitar solo, a really overdriven electric guitar, playing understatedly but with force and passion, taking us soaring up into the clouds towards the end of the song, where all the sounds are culminating - support vocals enriching it with their harmonies, the thickening effects of distorted guitars joining the acoustic rhythm, a breezy synth filling in the gaps.

Full-flavoured yet gently chilled (like I said, it's perfect summer evening music), it comes from his second album Oh No I Love You, released last year. I had no idea but Tim Burgess is lead singer of The Charlatans, boy am I stupid.

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