PAUL SMITH – SINGLE REVIEW


Paul Smith – Silver Rabbit (Billingham
Paul Smith - Silver Rabbit
Records)

Release Date: Out Now

I went to school with a guy called Paul Smith. Most of us probably did, if you grew up in an English-speaking country. But this Paul Smith is one of the most well-known, hat-wearing, leaping, singing Paul Smith’s around so if you’re a fan of Maximo Park you’ll be interested in the frontman’s latest solo offering. The first single from Smith’s next solo album, ‘Silver Rabbit’, might sound like an Anne Summers product but it sounds wonderfully familiar to his previous work. A furious, garage-punk riff is matches by Smith’s iconic vocal, tinged with sadness and a sense of the detached. There’s a satisfying bass chug and the drums power through until a wildly chaotic guitar solo brings things to an abrupt end just under the two-minute mark. Blisteringly essential listening, then.