SHY & DRS feat. Sandi Thom – The Love Is Gone

This is, to say the least, a bit weird.

Tom: This is, to say the least, a bit weird.

I was reading through the upcoming singles list, and did a bit of a double-take when I noticed “Sandi Thom”. Really? Once described as “the Musical Antichrist” by Charlie Brooker, and best known for a song that I loved at first and then grew to loathe the more I heard it.

All that’s beside the point, because she’s an acoustic guitar singer/songwriter. And now she’s featured on a track by – and I’m not making this up – a Scottish “hip-pop-rock” duo. That’s right: it’s Scottish rap time.

Tim: Well, this should be something then.

Tom: “Just say what’s on your mind / like a kid with Tourettes”. Oh boy.

Tim: Yep. Definitely something.

Tom: This sounds like a song that plays over the credits of an early-90s movie.

Tim: That’s…an interesting comparison.

Tom: It’s… it’s cheesy. Power guitar, female vocals, and a rap that just doesn’t sound right somehow, although that might be because Scottish rap isn’t exactly something that’s broken into the mainstream.

Tim: Perhaps you’re right, but is that a bad thing? I don’t really know what to say here, because it’s not something I’d choose to listen to and the artist isn’t well-known enough for me to compare it to anything. Though I will point out that you’re saying ‘Scottish rap” as though it’s a new genre in itself – much as I’d love that to be the case, I’m not entirely sure one regional accent can do enough to create it.

Tom: Oh, if there’s any Glaswegians reading this, Tim, be glad they’re not near you.

Tim: Fair enough, although I will point out that Wikipedia has a well-referenced five thousand word essay on something as minor as toilet paper orientation; I’m having a slight issue taking a single unsourced article there as proof of a genre, whatever danger it may put me in..

Tom: Anyway, I think it’s the quiet one-liner bits between the chorus and verses that really put it into the ‘closing credits’ genre. It’s competent, it really is, it’s just… weird.