Morrissey

World Peace Is None of Your Business

Written by: HES on 25/11/2014 19:32:49

If you haven't heard of Morrissey before, then you must've skipped the biggest chapter in the "Tortured Artists - The Handbook" - or well all of it. This guy wrote it. But then again if you haven’t heard of Morrissey, then you probably haven’t heard of The Smiths and then honestly; Are you sure you are in the right place? Jokes aside, the tortured artist came out once again as just a brief 3 weeks after the release of this album, Morrissey stated that the album would be “dropped” due to disagreements with record label “Harvest”. This basically meant that the album instantly disappeared from every outlet you’d normally find your music at: iTunes, Spotify - even record stores. Morrissey stated on his own blog/e-zine “True To You” that he “still believes there is a label out there for World Peace is None of Your Business”. So yeah. Old school tempers will it that the album is admittedly hard to find (legally), but none the less here is the review of the album that was originally released in July. If you have a record company you can meanwhile consider if you have a spot for the record.

When I am taking a piss on the whole “tortured artist”-deal it is because much of the Morrissey cult and hype is about all of this, but it is only so prominent because Morrissey himself is the musical epicentre of his music. When he left The Smith’s behind him, he somehow managed to step into the role of a musical poet. As you may have read into the title, Morrissey’s universe is pessimistic and full of self-doubt - but most of all it is ridden with political opinion. The lead track and album namesake has this strange, upbeat, corny - almost christmas-ish vibe about it, sounding oddly cheerful as Morrissey’s ever-so-young sounding baritone proclaims “Each time you vote you support the process” as the true anarchist he supposedly is - speaking directly to the people of Egypt and Ukraine. There is a thin line between being hyperbolic and dedicated and Morrissey doesn’t let you down in the art form of trying that line’s stamina out profusely, but I’ll be the first to admit there is a certain charm to the “with me/against me” kind of absolutes Morrissey operates by.

Musically the album is surprisingly upbeat when you take the subjects at hand into consideration. Morrissey’s iconic and low - yet boyish - voice is supported by horns, an accordion and Spanish guitar. I am personally a big fan of the “depressed mariachi band”-sound as Death Cab For Cutie singer Ben Gibbard also used with success on his solo-album “Former Lives” from 2012. Unfortunately the album stagnates both lyrically and musically with songs like “Kiss Me A Lot” that sounds like a vague version of The Smiths just with a bit of added fingerplay. The synths provided by Gustavo Manzur are well-placed most of the time, but sometimes fall out of the soundscape becoming almost comical. But where Morrissey truly redeems all of the self-glamorizing, borderline-hyperbolic banter that we’ve come to live with and maybe even care for just a tad, are songs like “Smiler With Knife” that is so hauntingly bare, full of sex and sorrow. Then I can live through the lyrics of songs like “I Am Not A Man” with lines like “I'd never kill or eat an animal. And I never would destroy this planet I'm on. Well, what do you think I am? A man?” that really only serves to stiffen an ego that other songs then tear down. Overall, while I’m having a hard time accepting the cult surrounding Morrissey, but I must admit that “World Peace Is None of Your Business” is a pretty good album.

Download: Smiler With Knife, Istanbul, World Peace is None of Your Business
For The Fans Of: The Smiths, The The, Bauhaus
Listen: facebook

Release date 04.07.2014
Harvest

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