It always irritates me slightly when a band is called whatever the frontman is. I mean, fair play if it's acoustic based
and has the occasional session player on an album, but when there's a full, and totally awesome band adding enormously to
the sound, I find it a little unfair. [In fairness, Dom specifically praises his fellow musicians in the booklet that
comes with the CD for everything they've added to the project (Dan didn't have access to the booklet when doing his
review) - Ed.]
Okay rant over. After two years' playing in a band Dom Hutton has gone solo (again, with a band) and has written an
exceptional album in the form of Sleeping At The Wheel.
Colliding the singer-songwriter vibe with mellow rock n roll, folk, indie, ska and finishing it off with the soulful,
soothing voice of Dom himself, this is music to reflect to. With distinguished, poetic lyrics that are complex enough
to get you thinking, but not quite so to put the average music consumer, you'll find yourself pondering this CD.
I have to say that Zizou Sadki plays some lovely basslines throughout this album. Consistently good, and technically
simple throughout, they mix with the drums perfectly to make a quality canvas for the Dom and guitarist Fabrice Ragot
to paint beautiful musical landscapes onto.
My fave on this album has to be the melancholy, and totally gorgeous Sleeping Dogs. Beginning with a folky riff that
for some reason reminds of Jack Johnson, this song builds up to be a slow, rock n roll number that wouldn't have felt
out of place in the mid-nineties. And, the guitarist uses an effect that makes his riff sound a bit like bagpipes in one bit.
Another close contender has to be Live TV. Reminding me of the mellow side of some old Oasis tracks, this songs breaks
into a gruff Clash-sounding reggae section and eventually opens up into a steady progression before doing it all over again.
With spacey samples towards the end this track is full of mysterious depth.
I have to say that when it comes to music on the underground scene Dom Hutton is heads and shoulders above many. If
you're at all enticed by this review I'll urge you to check it out, this is great music.