REVIEW OF THE SMITTEN KING LAMENTS on www.clickmusic.com"Why does it take a war to find ourselves bristling?" asks The Smitten King himself on opening pre-amble 'An Unhappy Fish'. The line "two spiders they were hurting in the same web/trying to freak each other out by wearing fake fly heads" is the earthier, real beginning on second, lengthier track 'I Spy The Spider', an exposition on a theme of a spider trying to be a fly only to be met with laughter and perception from the flies. The lyrics are flowery, gauche, bleak and oozing with wonderful descriptions and metaphors. Without doubt, Simon Breed has a unique way with words, creating little epithets from his ultra-observations, but not only that - his music is touching, delicate and unfeigned. His voice has an emotional gruffness in parts which is the perfect foil for his eloquent, verbose narration. Little twinkles and occasional sparks of woodwind scatter themselves unexpectedly between the prose, as it becomes clear with repeated listens that Breed's second album 'The Smitten King Laments' is an admitted self-contradiction of perfect flaws, deserved of the Nick Cave approbation. In fact, Breed and Cave share more in common than at first glance. The tone is mystic and opulent and the backdrop is one of gilt-tinged folk, making the singer/songwriter label that will inevitably attach itself to Breed off-putting and inaccurate, as not only does he offer more than just skill as a lyricist, he offers individuality, ambition and menace. 'No Wandering' comes over all yearning, Patrick Wolf-style, showing off Breed's talent for getting across what he wants to say in the most fitting way every time, with 'Finish My Book' a suitably plodding troubadour's effort to represent movement, travel and journey, calling to mind Arcade Fire's 'Rebellion (Lies)'. 'The Golem vs. The Gentle Giant' is an evocative image, and its minimalism, characterisation and once again stunning wordplay, makes it the highlight of this consistently impressive offering. Breed sets up a protagonist, places himself somewhere on the sidelines, and offers a commentary unlike any other. It's clear that the main attraction of Breed is his words, but that's not to say the music doesn't offer surroundings bereft of purpose. In fact, it's entirely the opposite as the music itself has found the perfect balance between taking a supporting role and being a foil. An absolutely superb album. Natalie Shaw
REVIEW OF THE SMITTEN KING LAMENTS on THELINEOFBESTFIT.COMBoth simplistic and sinister in equal measure… causes you to glance over your shoulder, and fills the heart with joy as well as menace."REVIEW OF THE SMITTEN KING LAMENTS on THIS IS FAKE DIY:In the (almost) title-track 'The Smitten King's Lament', Simon Breed epigrammatizes himself so we don't have to: "morbid and morose and made in Britain". And from there he begins a song that bleeds dark and rich with poetry, something that sounds crushed from berries and beetles. Its narrator, all clumsy and monstrously gentle, sings of his offering: "a posy wilting from my fist's dark heat / a poem bruised by yelling it". Oh, going, going, gone. Sold, already.
And he's no gilt, grating soprano wielding a lute, either. He's from that long line of deep-voiced storytellers, those with a bindleful of tales about sinking ships and fatally-flawed cowboys. All they need's a crisply rambling guitar, the occasional soft, punctuative piano. The songs churn and repeat. 'The Golem vs. The Gentle Giant' strikes a thousand D notes, and Breed's voice sways around that D, and chimes against it, and it feels a sort of voodoo, the kind Calvin Johnson stirs up with his own bassy sough. What a voice, that sounds like it could carve trenches.
But unlike Johnson, Breed's voice is honeyed, infinitely smooth. And the production is flawless … while he's throwing out such amazing, nervous feats of language as "bitten-fingernail moon" and "gun-metal darkness", the surface of this solution remains unstirred… there ought to be some of [A Boy Named] Sue's slightly cracked psyche in there, some lo-fi virus that will could burst from this serene studio environment. A poem bruised by yelling it. Oh well. Listening closer, hearing, "talking was a treacle to chew / walking was a weightlift / thank you for your help, nurse / but these are not my teeth" - it suddenly seems petty to quarrel. Ramble on, Smitten King.
Meryl TrusslerREVIEW OF THE SMITTEN KING LAMENTS IN PLAN B MAGAZINE:REVIEW OF THE SMITTEN KING LAMENTS on Skiddle.comHe has supported Magic Numbers and Nick Cave while John Peel supported him. Heard of him? No, us neither. But we really should have, his new album is a musical masterpiece.
…The final product, even if not taking into account the sleep deprivation and attacks that accompanied it, is a real triumph. Listening to his eleven well composed, hauntingly poised acoustic tracks, besieged with bleak, comic lyrics sung with Simon's evocative and captivating vocals, it is screamingly clear why, in his early days, John Peel tirelessly supported Mr. Breed.
He is quite simply a fantastic musician. His songs, by no means easy listening, are more likely to make you want to crawl up in a despondent heap than go frolic in fields of sunflowers, but that is their delicate beauty. And he clearly intended this, "I wanted to put across intriguing lyrics in an intimate, listenable way." Well, mission complete, Simon Breed."Melodically beautiful, lyrically barbed." TIME OUTREVIEW OF MINI-ALBUM 'The Filth And Wonder Of... " OUT NOW:
"Simon Breed is as subtle as a knife to butter, and just as likely supply a distinctive flavour to the songwriter trade as a slosh of whisky in the morning brew. Frankly spoken from the very start, and without any cover against a full and righteous rage, Simon Breed hits with incredible force with lyrics straight from the deepest shadows of observation. With song titles likely to set email filters flashing with alarm, the uncompromising 'Filth and Wonder' is no mere foul mouth tirade. The opening gambit - four Anglo-Saxon terms of some force - is an honest rebuttal against the misuse of power in personal relationships and the wider world. Simply stunning lyrical flashes and the piercing wail of a guitar falling down stairs as a stark backdrop combine with a power that could harm fragile sensibilities. Nothing and no-one can stop 'The Brother Song', a deeply personal moving riposte against bullying in all its forms, introduced by a stark and sincere spoken speech, from its brazen pull on the heart strings. Simon Breed wants his message to be heard and does so with two fingers
firmly in the face of convention. This is a collection of songs that plunges into loathing and comes out smiling, delves into society's ills and brings up the best of the writer's art. The filth may not be to everyone's taste - which clearly doesn't matter - but the wonder is clearly the mark of a genius."
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"Like Jeff Buckley with tourette's." NME.Review of Camden Enterprise Barfly show, March 1st 2007: "Simon Breed was a weird one. For the kind of stuff he was singing about, and the introductions he gave ("this is a song for anyone who's ever been forced to go on holiday to Norfolk. That can be a good and bad thing"), he should have been crushingly twee and awful, BUT! the music was (a) so good, and (b) so *ballsy! And he has this deep, sexy voice. He was brilliant! All four on my table kept looking at each other between each song, and shaking our heads and going, "He's great!". And then, all of a sudden, halfway through he pulls out this beautiful love song… if you can imagine Jim Noir crossed with Nick Cave, you're part way there… he's a treat ." XFM DJ Marsha Shandur.REVIEW OF DEVASTATING SKY: "Simon Breed is different. Rather than pertaining to the formulaic quick win of a heart-tugging lament, the gushing sound of new single Devastating Sky has been produced in a decidedly more cantankerous manner. A kaleidoscopic symphony of despairing vocals infused with sonic giddiness, the love-struck verses are guided from the sewers of melancholic darkness by an elated astral-gazing chorus. The airwaves may be awash with dirge by Blunt and Morrison, but the UK has unearthed a sparkling new gem in Simon Breed." THE SKINNY MAG onlineREVIEW OF CAMDEN UNDERWORLD SHOW: '…Simon Breed makes a 3-piece sound like anything from a 5 piece with full brass section to a lone voice. Captivating songs including obscenities aimed at problem bosses to beautiful ditties about Brotherly Love, Simon Breed takes the image of a man with an acoustic guitar and fucks it right up.' Fly Magazine (BARFLY), November 2005."Simon Breed seems to have issues with musical convention...this rudimentary ensemble make the perfect backing to his lyrics, a lot of which are unprintable. Simon's songs deal with ragged emotions and self-loathing in an intelligent and directly eloquent manner, inventing words along the way when the right one just can't be found -for example, 'scatumenical' and 'failophobial'....(his) live shows have an unhinged quality which, if you let it in to your head, may be one birthmark that's impossible to remove." - Metro."Simon is a playboy of the Western world who trawls the gutters of its cities for treasure, and holds what he finds up to the most blinding light possible, exalting the wretched and abandoned with a lexicographical delight in the invention and deployment of words, and a romantic, improvisatory fascination with noise applied to melody. Crooning one moment, howling the next, Simon and his band pull their inspirational music from the entrails or 'proper' and 'improper' instruments without favour or mercy." - the 12 Bar Club."Intense, fragile melodicism from a talented, big-voiced Breedster" - Time Out."His voice a silvered surface, broken guitar tuned down and seething, wrests transcendence from the international language of despair" - Abyssal Plain."Some people want to drain his bile"
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