I love Dan Croll. Ahem. I mean, I admire and have a high opinion of his musical talent… After listening to Home on a VEVO DSCVR session, I bought the deluxe version of his debut album Sweet Disarray… That was literally all it took. Was it necessary for me to have 24 tracks worth of Dan Croll, you ask? YES. YES IT WAS.
Happy gets all tumblrista over the man, the voice, the legend Dan Croll. We just discovered his latest album and if you haven’t yet checked it out, it’s high time you did.
After I bought his album, I did the usual cyberstalking thing which is like, kinda necessary for an album review right? Anyways, it seems I’m not the only one who is swooning, apparently everyone from Paul McCartney to Vera Wang (uber posh bridal design label) love this guy, and I totally understand why.
I apologise beforehand for the almost unintelligible quality of this review but I’m actually listening to the album as I’m writing this and my brain is not functioning properly because these songs are turning them into jelly. Compliment Your Soul is playing right now and all I can think is that all songs should have trumpet ostinatos and choruses which have choruses (see what I did there) of Dan Crolls singing at your face. Oh all the editing that will have to be done to this article… I’m fangirling guys. Badly.
The first track From Nowhere is one very beat laden and bassy concoction that couldn’t get any catchier – I should warn you that the whole album is as infectiously catchy as a virus – also, the music vid is full of attractive hipsters staring at each other, it’s pretty fun.
I must say, Dan is a pretty crafty dude because he manages to suck me into a song before I can analyse it. Here I am bopping along to Thinkin Aboutchu and Can You Hear Me tracks that could oh so easily be over-produced into a song that would no doubt feat. Usher. The songs are 100% RnB, with all the funky beats but minus the generic production and misogynistic lyrics – yay! Also, vintage synths ALWAYS win me over*.
Sweet Disarray is a tight album, with each song running three minutes on average, so there’s no chance for these tunes to drag on. In fact I feel like Croll cuts all the songs a little short (what a tease!) but that’s probably because they are so hook-heavy and make you never want it to end. It’s kind of refreshing for an indie artist not to force you to sit through an intense and overwhelming five-minute-epic-artist-
Home is the song that grabbed me by the ears and forced me to impulse buy the album, but it’s the odd one out in the record. Where the other songs are bassy, synthed out and the kind of tune that would do well on the dance floor, Home is stripped back in dynamics, folky and definitely puts Dan’s love for Paul Simon on show.
Sweet Disarray is a very appropriate album title because it is, in essence, what the record is. Croll himself has described the body of work as a ‘mixed tape’ and ‘melting pot’ which I love. I’ve read some pretty negative reviews on this album and on Dan Croll in general which is a little sad – maybe it’s just me, but I find it so humble and refreshing when I see that instead of aspiring to be ‘original’ (I personally believe that word is so misapplied) and ‘new’ – an artist acknowledges their influences and pays homage to them. Art does not need to be ‘original’ to be interesting or heartfelt.
Speaking of influences, it’s no secret who this guy loves. Paul Simon is a major hero along with Joni Mitchell and the Beach Boys, all nostalgic childhood soundtracks. If you have a listen to the deluxe album, you’ll hear his collaboration with Ladysmith Black Mambazo which obviously lends an African flavour to Croll’s unique mix of sounds. If you’re wondering about contemporary musicians I think Croll would get along with, I see him almost as a male counterpart to Kimbra; beautifully layered vocal harmonies, groovy rhythms and a huge respect for the power of synths. I’d love to stick those two in a room and see what happened! A musical marriage please!
Croll doesn’t put on any pretenses, he makes extremely fun and catchy feel-good pop which appeals to anyone from fashion people and mainstream pop artists to the most cynical of hipsters. He has a foot in each camp and he manages to make this work. I can see this guy being huge on the charts, and you know, I hope he is, because commercial radio is so gross right now and my Mum only understands top 40 pop so please make Dan Croll popular so I don’t have to listen to Chandelier by Sia five times in the span of twelve hours. Thank you.
*You and Radi should go bowling sometime.
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