Tim: Readers, Tom is currently off swanning around in the arctic circle, because that’s the sort of thing he does; in the meantime, temporary recruit Adam is here to fill in. Say hello Adam!
Adam: Hello Adam!
Okay, now I’ve got that seriously bad dad joke out of the way–
Tim: I’d be disappointed if you hadn’t made it, to be honest.
Adam: –we can actually get to know each other.
My name’s Adam, I’m 27 years old and I’m a serial underachiever. Basically I’m no Tom Scott, so go easy on me.
My only exposure to Europop has been (drunkenly) watching Eurovision. I do like to call myself a musician though so maybe I can bring something to the table.
Tim: Adam, you won’t know this, but we featured Galavant just a couple of weeks ago; They’re a pair of Swedish producers who’ve now roped in the similarly Swedish Clara Mae, who presumably has a surname but it seems we’re not destined to know it,
Adam: I’ve done my research!!! I listened to Make Me Feel and I definitely think this has more on offer.
Never heard of Clara Mae before.
Tim: Me neither, as it happens, and I can’t find out much about her, sorry.
I feel like you need to be a bonafide star to be known on first-name basis.
Tim: Oh, you’d be surprised. I’m not sure how much I like that. Last time Tom criticised Galavant a bit for going nuts on the volume slider, with the instrumental chorus line going up/down/up/down/up/down several times a second.
Adam: Nowadays you can’t complain when an artist tries to make things a little more dynamic.
Tim: Oh, he wasn’t – that styles’s almost a cliché now – but to be honest I’ve come round to in a lot. Here, in contrast, they’re just on/off/on/off, and I really don’t think that works at all. It’s just way too staccato, and I really don’t think I could dance to that at all.
Adam: I’ve seen you dance. What did we say? “It’s like having a seizure in time to the music”.
Tim: Yes, but it just stops too much. A shame, because the rest of it’s good – she’s got a perfectly decent vocal, the melody’s fine – just that chorus production.
Adam: Nooo! I think the chorus is it’s redeeming factor. There’s no real hook but at least the chorus has some movement to it.
Tim: First track, first disagreement. I think we’ll got on just fine.