Neil Leyton’s third solo album,
The Betrayal Of Self is named after a Swiss socio-psychologist Arno Gruen’s Book,
Der Verrat am Selbst, a book not available in the English language. Born in Lisbon but having spent time in Canada, Leyton’s desire to ensure his music stayed his own has resulted in him setting up his own independent label, Fading Ways Music.
With his Swedish band, The Ghosts, this Stockholm recorded album is complicated and varied. The album feels as though it is not quite sure what direction it is taking and the songs seem to fall into 3 categories to Leyton, the political statements, the personal stories and the party songs, yet all of which combine smoothly to leave the listener with an album that both challenges and is ultimately extremely listenable. This is definitely a set of songs worth looking out for.
Having read the book from which the album title was taken, Leyton, who had been working on a book of his own decided that the Swedish socio-psychologist’s book could not be bettered and reflected exactly how he felt. He also decided that he was unable to write anything over five minutes long so began to write a new album of music to give sound bites into his thoughts and political/social views.
This is an album that is easy to listen to and instantly likeable. From the very first beat of
The System Is The System Is The Problem with stringy guitars and poppy vocals this album urgently encourages the listener into it’s heart. Songs such as
Automatically are bright and anthemic but look beyond the surface and you find lyrics that talk of media manipulation and power. On the flipside
I Just Can’t Take Another Smile feels like an Emo call to all those who have experienced lost love and wanting to be swept away on a cloud of Valium to forget the hurt.
Leyton’s vocals have overtones of Bowie and Nick Cave and his extravagant rock that hits you from the start has made great impressions on the European mainland but has so far not found much success in this country. If you have watched films such as
Breakfast On Pluto and
Velvet Goldmine and loved the soundtracks then this is an album for you. This is certainly a sound that would not have been out of place in the 70s and it’s political and personal comments certainly reflect the music from that time too.
Adopt-A-Terrorist is the funky song that ends this album with the words, “Send food, Send love. Lay Your Weapons Down”. OK, so that is a pretty simplistic view of life but hell, this is a world that needs to listen to such sound advice.
Does it matter that this album sounds slightly dated? Hell no. This is almost cock rock and glamour glitz and it works well.
To find out more about Leyton and his music, check out his website,
www.neilleyton.com or through his record label
www.fadingwaysmusic.com The Betrayal Of The Self will be available from Monday 18 September through Leyton’s label.
