Brought to life by the brooding strum of an acoustic guitar, the string-bound “My First Band” embodies every bit of the youthful rebellion its title would suggest it does and then some. Like the other songs found on the stunning A Gateway to a Lifetime of Disappointment (a record which sources its title from a line in “My First Band”), this track sees David Newton and & Thee Mighty Angels blending the post-punk of Newton’s early endeavors in The Mighty Lemon Drops and Blue Aeroplanes with a contemporary pop/rock swing. The resulting cocktail only adds to the alternative icon’s legacy, and moreover, the chill-factor of most any indie playlist this summer.
URL: https://bilstonuk.wixsite.com/theemightyangels
There are definitely some hearty melodies to be found in the sleek “Bittersweet,” swaggering “This Time” and pulsating “Connect with You,” but I wouldn’t deem A Gateway to a Lifetime of Disappointment a hook-centric LP at all. On the contrary, there’s simply too much substance in the narrative of all three of the aforementioned songs alone for me to exclusively focus on the musicality at hand. Newton isn’t working with singular concepts here – if anything, he’s doing everything but that in his mission to construct a pragmatic and stylistically transparent alternative rock record.
I really like the instrumental balance in “In Love and War,” “Paint the Town” and “The Songs That Changed Our Lives” (which features the incomparable Eddie Argos stepping up to the microphone for a memorable guest appearance), and I think they make it clear just how important textural expressiveness is to David Newton in this project. Lyrics convey plenty of emotion in A Gateway to a Lifetime of Disappointment, but without the presence of physicality – seemingly around every turn – I don’t know that the moodiness would be quite as tangible and, ultimately, relatable to the audience.
The lean basslines in “The Kids Are Not Alright” and “Everything Is Just So” allude to minimalist interests on the part of Thee Mighty Angels and absolutely work to benefit the brighter colors in Newton’s centerpiece vocal harmonies. His utilization of a conservative framework to amplify and already lush melodicism in this record is both ironic and something I’m dying to hear more of in future efforts, and whether you’re familiar with post-punk’s long and storied history or not, there’s a sense of history in this album that undisputedly adds to the overall vibe of the music no matter how many times it’s been spun.
APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/david-newton-thee-mighty-angels/484089044
David Newton brings the Paint the Town EP into full-color completion with the release of A Gateway to a Lifetime of Disappointment this summer, and personally, I think it’s only a small but wonderful preview of what he’s still got left in the tank with Thee Mighty Angels behind him. His career has taken him from one corner of the globe to the other, and right now, I would say that this emerging chapter of his story is looking to be one of surprising focus, creative freedom and melodic treasures any audiophile would be foolish to dismiss.
Kim Muncie