- "The Passions Of Pez is a short story, but it's full of surprises," sings Reckonwrong on "The Passions Of Pez," a song where the London producer turns troubadour with a lad-about-town swagger. Coming from an artist with a typically idiosyncratic style, the song sounds like a tribute to a lineage that goes from Roxy Music to mid-'80s Talking Heads—romantic, conceptual pop with a dance floor sensibility. It's a self-aware ode to solipsism, more of a beery sing-a-long than avant-garde poetry. More enticing than the lyrics is Reckongwrong's marble-mouthed singing, which offsets the smoothness of the music's dusky disco guitars.
That same smoothness finds its way into "Getting Warmer (Hot Mix)," a track with chunky synth chords and spidery piano arps. It has the warmth and colour that's become typical of Whities, but as a partner piece to "The Passions Of Pez," it's poorly chosen, which isn't just a question of mismatched styles. Reckonwrong's most charismatic music has come from the baroque contortions of "Luscious Lips," or the lysergic weirdness of "Magical Journey," both from his last Whities EP. By sheer force of personality, "The Passions Of Pez" continues that streak, but "Getting Warmer (Hot Mix)" is an odd counterpart simply because it feels ordinary by comparison.
TracklistA The Passions Of Pez
B Getting Warmer (Hot Mix)