Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Society has become consumed with the idea of instant fame, that the dream is not just to find yourself being on the road to success, fortune and a million likes on social media, the people hanging on your every word and reaction, but to be instantly immersed in that world from the next morning, a pact made with Morpheus as you close your eyes that you will arise the next morning and be able to phone all you know that you Woke Up In Hollywood.
The formula of our age had dictated such a dream is possible, that Hollywood, and its equivalents around the world is there for all, no hard work necessary, just the ability to stand out in a crowd and demand that your dreams are met; thankfully for the vast majority of the population such thoughts are an anathema, a ridicule of such a nature that it is to be considered a curse.
Yet the ability to dream is what sets us apart, makes us human, you might not want to see the falseness of the facade behind the neon signs, but you will always want to see your name on the bill, the proof, unmitigated and undeniable, that you were here, at this time, and that your voice meant something quite superb.
It’s Karma It’s Cool, perhaps the idealism holding the realism aloft, that sees James Styring, Martyn Bewick, Mikey Barraclough and Danny Krash bring purity in examination and the overall compass points of the Power Pop genre to the public, and crucially, unrestrained, make each song on their album, one that releases all the happy feel good hormones that pop can provide, but also refuses to allow the listener to feel as if the answers are easy, that a dream is only worth considering if it has actually been earned; and Woke Up In Hollywood has been more than earned, it has been necessary.
Hollywood is all well and good, but it is to the Lincolnshire heartlands, the east coast that waking up and being alert is the delight of all, and across tracks such as Bubblegum Monsters, the excellent Back In ’78, Wooden Buddha, the powerful American Sushi, Healer’s Leap, which features the tremendous Rex Broome and Brain Barry, and the sheer sharpness of Burnt Out Bliss, that mark this album out as a weighty, distinctive powerhouse of illumination and fun.
Who need Hollywood when you Karma on your side, when you can wake up anywhere and be strengthened by honesty, feeling and persuasion.
It’s Karma It’s Cool will release Woke Up In Hollywood on May 15th on the Kool Kat Musik label.
Ian D. Hall