“Break My Heart,” the first track of Malcom Middleton’s second solorelease, declares that the singer “don’t want to sing these shit songsanymore.” A jaunty, mid-tempo number which features Middleton’sself-effacing lyrics and is delivered in his thick Scottish accent, itis anything but a “shit song.”Chemikal Underground
While there are a few singer-songwriter indulgences that coursethroughout Into the Woods, Middleton manages to steer the album awayfrom cliché and provide a pretty and compelling set of songs. Fans ofArab Strap (of whom Middleton is a member) will no doubt be familiarwith the mordant tone of the lyrics, but where musically Arab Straphave a tendency to render themselves a bit lifeless, Middleton does anexcellent job of varying his songs. This is clearly seen on “No ModestBear,” which bounces along a thick synthesizer riff and roboticdrumming. Elsewhere, songs like the six minute “Bear With Me” recallthe spirit and smart pop of early 80s R.E.M. Perhaps the mostsurprising inclusion is “A Happy Medium,” a sprightly synth-pop piecewhich features ringing guitars and clicking percussion. Over theseseemingly innocuous parts, Middleton intones “Woke up again today,realized I hate myself. My face is a disease.” While it would be easyfor lines like this to slip into self-parody, Middleton keeps thingstogether by not applying any needless melodrama to the lyrics. Whilethere are several songs here that indeed fall into the category of“singer-songwriter,” they do better then most by emphasizing pretty,but subdued melodies and Middleton’s articulate self-loathing. Into theWoods is an album that should appeal to Arab Strap's preexisting fans,but by way of his more wide-reaching experiments in bedroom pop,Middleton could very well acquire a whole new legion of fans attractedto his deft ear for melody and his knack for dark, self-effacinglyricism.
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